The Jedi Illusion
by vala-anna
Summary: What happens if the Jedi were Dark and the Sith were Light? Anakin finds damning evidence on Mustafar that condemns the Jedi. Follows the general plot of original story but has some changes. Padme/Anakin. The story is better than the summary so Please R
1. The Beginning

**Story starts on Mustafar Planet where Padme confronts Anakin. Please R&R!!**

The ship landed on the dark red planet and its hatch opened, revealing a pregnant woman standing at the entrance.

"Anakin, what's going on? Obi-Wan has told me things about you," said an anxious Padme, running out the ship to meet Anakin.

Anakin cupped her face in his hands and stared into her beautiful brown eyes. "What things, sweetheart? What has he said about me?"

"He told me bad things about you – that you have joined the dark side. Is that true, Ani?" she asked. She searched his eyes, desperately looking for the answer that she wanted.

Anakin sighed, looking away from her eyes. "Padme, there is something that I have found out here that I must tell you but you need to promise me that you won't tell anyone else."

She looked down for a moment, trying to decide. Then she looked back up at him and nodded.

Anakin gave her a small, strained smile. "It's the Jedi – they're planning to take over the - !" Anakin was broken off in mid-sentence when a red lightsaber came out of nowhere, slashing down to his neck. He brought his own lightsaber up just in time to block the hard blow. He looked pass the crossed lightsabers at his opponent.

"Obi-Wan!" he said, shocked.

"You shouldn't have come here, Anakin!" Obi-Wan said in a raised voice, with a terrible expression on his face which softened as he said his next sentence, a little more gently. "You were like my brother, Anakin, but you have found out too much here…..I have to kill you." Then a shadow came over his face. "You should have stayed in Coruscant!"

On the last word, he used the Force and pushed Padme backwards. She fell down and Anakin turned around to her in horror.

"Padme! Are you hurt?"

Padme gazed back at him in horror, pointing to something behind him. "Anakin, becareful!"

Anakin whirled around, swinging his lightsaber up to meet another blow from Obi-Wan. Then another…..and another. Anakin soon realized that Obi-Wan would fight to his death to stop the Jedi secret from getting out.

They sprang apart to either sides of the platform high above the molten lava of this planet. He stared at the wise face of the man who had taught him everything he knew, saddened that they had to kill each other.

He took a deep breath and pulled himself together, knowing that this was no time to dwell on such depressing things. He calmed his mind and he let the Force flow through him to every single part of his body.

They came at each other again, wielding their blades. Anakin let himself to the Force, letting it tell him where Obi-Wan's next blow would be and blocking them as they came. Obi-Wan swung aggressively at him and that was when Anakin felt the Dark side of the Force around Obi-Wan, corrupting him. They carried on fighting, moving away from the ship as they fought.

* * *

As they fought, Padme lay on the ground in pain, breathing heavily and holding her stomach while the contractions came more and more often. She blinked away the tears that had gathered in her eyes and wished frantically for Anakin to live.

* * *

Anakin ducked as Obi-Wan's blade took a swipe at his neck and he in turn took a swipe at his legs. The blow was thwarted as Obi-Wan jumped up to avoid it. Anakin rolled out of reach, just avoiding Obi-Wan's blade which came slashing down on the table and climbed back up onto his feet, ready to face the attack. He was forced backwards into the control room as Obi-Wan came at him viciously, attacking with relentless strike after relentless strike. Sensing an object blocking his way, Anakin did a back-flip and landed on top of the table. Obi-Wan followed suit. Anakin, who had formed a plan to stop the fight without either of them dying while back-flipping onto the table, dived off the table and onto the control panels, destroying them. A siren began to wail and Anakin suddenly felt the force squeezing at his neck. He looked across the room at Obi-Wan and raised his hands, chocking Obi-Wan as he chocked him. Obi-Wan frowned and he sent a chair flying towards Anakin's head. He was knocked out cold and he dropped to the floor.

Panting, Obi-Wan peered out a window, holding his neck. His eyes widened in alarm as he saw the level of the lava rising. He regarded Anakin's still form for a second, undecided, and then he turned away and made his way back to the ship he had come in.

* * *

Padme raised her head from the ground as she heard footsteps, hoping to see Anakin. The walking figure appeared and she felt dread rising in her heart as she saw that it was not Anakin.

_Oh please don't let him be dead,_ she thought desperately.

Obi-Wan paused to look at her before carrying on to the ship. Padme followed him with her eyes and was dismayed when he entered the ship and took off, leaving her and Anakin stranded on the planet. She closed her eyes for a few seconds, resolving to find Anakin and she slowly climbed up, holding her swollen belly. She set off step by step to find Anakin.

* * *

Anakin groaned and sat up. He rubbed his raw neck and gradually stood up, feeling a little dizzy. He bent down to retrieve his lightsaber and made his way out of the chamber. Halfway out the corridor, he saw Padme walking towards him and he ran to her.

"Padme!"

"Ani…." She answered weakly, collapsing into his arms.

Anakin kissed her gently on her head.

"Ani…the ship is gone a-and I think the baby is coming."

He closed his eyes, trying not to think of the visions he had been having about her death. He took a deep breath and wiped her tears away.

"There are more ships over there," he said, pointing to the place, "we'll get there if hurry."

"You'd better pick me up then; I don't think I can walk for long."

Anakin nodded and bent to pick her up. She wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her head in the crook of his shoulder.

* * *


	2. Nativity

The platform buckled beneath them, causing Anakin to stumble and nearly drop Padme.

Anakin grunted. "Sorry, love, we're nearly there."

He could feel her labored breathing against his chest. He wanted her to be safe in the ship before the baby came. He started to run again as he saw another ship around the corner. He hurried across to it and ran up the hatchway. Anakin looked around the ship.

"We're here, Padme! There _must _be a droid in here that can help the baby come along," he panted.

"I think you should get the ship off this planet first, Ani, before the lava comes up this high," said Padme faintly.

"But - I should get you to the droid first. The baby's nearly due." Anakin looked down at her anxiously.

"I'll be fine, Anakin," she said reassuringly, "just put me down here for the moment."

Anakin nodded. He pushed her hair back and kissed her on the head lovingly.

"I'll be quick," he murmured, laying her down on the floor of the ship gently.

Padme smiled at him. "I love you, Ani."

"Love you too," he answered, then went to the cockpit of the ship. The ship purred into action as he started up the engines. He punched in the co-ordinates of Coruscant and set the controls on auto-pilot.

"Anakin!"

Anakin looked over his shoulder in alarm at her cry. He looked back at his controls and hurriedly finished what he was doing before dashing out to where Padme lay. He crouched down next to her. She was breathing heavily, her chest heaving up and down.

"Padme…"

"Anakin – the baby's – here," she said between her breaths. "Anakin?"

_She lay on the bed, crying and screaming as she pushed the baby out. Then she lay back on the bed, gasping for breadth. After a few minutes, she closed her eyes, seeming to fall asleep but she never woke up again._

"Anakin!"

He felt someone shaking his arm and he started out from his memories of his visions.

"Anakin, are you okay?"

He looked at her eyes, then down at the floor. "I'm fine," he said, picking her up.

He carried her into the ships infirmary and laid her down on one of the beds. A medical droid came and began working on her without saying anything. Anakin sat down next to the bed. He took her hand in his and stroked it, trying to reassure both of them. Soon enough, the baby came.

* * *

Padme sighed in relief as the baby came out. The medical droid cut the umbilical cord and wrapped the baby up in a blanket. He handed the package to Anakin, who cradled it awkwardly.

"It is a boy," it announced.

"Luke…my baby boy…" Padme named him weakly. Then she sucked in a breath as the contractions began again.

"You're having twins!" said Anakin, amazed.

Padme gave one last push and the second baby came out. The medical droid went through the same procedure and it handed the baby to Padme. She smiled tearfully down at the baby.

"It is a girl," stated the droid.

"Leia," she said gently.

Anakin and Padme looked at each other proudly.

"They're beautiful," whispered Anakin softly. Then he bent down and kissed her gently on the mouth.

"You should let her rest," interrupted the medical droid.

Anakin broke away from Padme and smiled at her.

"Go to sleep now, sweetheart. I'll see you later."

She nodded and smiled back at him gratefully.

"Thanks for being here with me, Ani."

She closed her eyes and went into an exhausted sleep as Anakin stroked her hair tenderly. Slowly, he felt his smile slide off his face as he remembered the visions. He turned to the droid.

"Is she okay? Is there anything wrong with her?"

"No, sir, she is absolutely fine."

"Is there any danger of her dying?"

The droid shook its head and carefully took Leia from Padme's arms. Anakin sighed, relieved and handed Luke over to the droid who took them over to a couple of cots.

* * *

Two hours later, Padme woke up. She looked around, feeling disorientated for a second and then recalled what had happened.

"Anakin? Where are you?" she called out softly.

Anakin opened the infirmary door a couple of seconds later and sat down at the side of her bed again.

"What is it, darling?" he asked in a mellow voice.

"Where are the babies?"

"They're sleeping in the cots – just over there," he replied, pointing them out to her.

She looked over to where he was pointing and gazed at their babies with joy. The she looked down at her hands with a troubled expression.

"What is it, Padme?" asked Anakin, frowning.

She looked up into his eyes.

"What was it that you found out in Mustafar, Anakin? Why did Obi-Wan attack you?"

Anakin dropped his gaze. Padme cupped the side of his face with her hand.

"Please tell me, Anakin. I promised I won't tell anyone."

He looked back up into her eyes and nodded.

"I found something – something that tells me that the Jedi are bad, that they have joined the dark side.

"What is it?"

"I found an ancient text of the Sith. It roughly translates to tell the story of the Sith and the Jedi. It says that the Sith were never on the Dark side, that the Jedi were the ones who orchestrated everything and blamed all of it on the Sith. I don't know if this is true, Padme, if it is, then…" he trailed off, not really knowing what he _would_ do.

Padme held his hand and gave it a comforting squeeze.

"What else was there?"

He looked into her eyes, anguished.

"There were plans to make a Death Star – a huge weapon that could destroy a whole planet with one shot and there was a recorded conversation between…between Master Yoda and Master Windu (no, he hasn't died yet). Padme, the Jedi are planning to take over the Republic! That was why Obi-Wan followed me to Mustafar. That was why he tried to kill me – he couldn't let me find out about the Jedi."

Padme closed her eyes, battling with her beliefs. She opened them and saw in his eyes that this was the truth. She felt tears spring to her eyes.

"Oh, Ani, I'm so sorry," she said, leaning forward to hold him. Anakin wrapped his arms around her, also tearful.

"I know that Obi-Wan was like a father to you."

"He has joined the Dark side, Padme; I felt it while we were fighting," he told her quietly, "but I know that he is not yet fully corrupted."

"How?" she asked, leaning back to look at him.

"He couldn't kill me; he chocked me instead. If he were on the Dark side, he would've already killed me when he had the chance. I think I can turn him back, Padme."


	3. The Evidence

**Thanks very much to all those who reviewed! You rock!**

* * *

"Where are we going?"

Anakin turned around on his chair to find Padme standing at the doorway of the cockpit.

"We're going to Coruscant."

"But isn't that dangerous? The Jedi are there," she asked worriedly.

"I know, but I have to tell Chancellor Palpatine about the things I have found first."

"Why do you have to tell him?"

"He can give us advice, Padme, he'll help us."

"There's still something else, Ani."

Anakin grinned. "You can read me that well? I'll let the Chancellor tell you the other reason – it's his secret."

Padme nodded understandably. A comfortable silence settled around the two of them. Then another thought occurred to her.

"Why were you on _Mustafar_ of all places anyway?"

"Palpatine sent me here. He must've known that I would find something there."

Padme knitted up her brows, uncomfortable at the thought. She went over to Anakin and sat down on the other chair.

"So you answer to him now?"

Anakin's face became tense.

"We're nearly at Coruscant," he said, avoiding her question. Then he looked at the expression on her face and he softened. "We're nearly there, Padme. I think it's better if Palpatine answers your questions. I don't understand about the evidence fully myself. You'll understand better once he explains everything."

She nodded, and then caught Anakin looking at her with a funny expression.

"What?" she asked, puzzled.

Anakin burst out laughing.

"What, Ani?" she asked again, starting to laugh as well.

They both fell to hysterics, Padme not quite knowing why she was laughing.

"What is so funny, Anakin?"

Anakin finally caught his breath. "It was your expression when you asked the first 'what'."

"Was it that funny?" asked Padme, grinning.

"Yeah," he replied, calming down. He took her hands in his. "You look so different without your stomach," he smiled at her.

"Yet you told me I looked so different _with_ my stomach."

"I did?" he asked, leaning forward to kiss her.

"Yes, you did," she whispered, kissing him back.

They kissed passionately, loosing themselves in the world of love. Then –

"Mmm, I need to control the ship," said Anakin, breaking away from Padme reluctantly.

"I thought it was on auto-pilot," said Padme, raising her eyebrows.

"Yes, but I need to land the ship now."

"We're here already?" she asked, startled.

Anakin nodded.

"Do you think it's safe to take the babies down, Anakin?"

He looked thoughtfully at the controls for a while.

"No," he said, glancing at her, "I think it's better if we don't let the Jedi feel their presence – just in case they _have_ joined the Dark side."

She frowned. "But – "

"Please, Padme? I don't know what will happen if we let the Jedi sense them. They're safer on the ship."

Padme took a deep breath to steady herself. "Okay."

Anakin landed the ship on the landing platform of the building where the Chancellor would be and opened the hatchway.

* * *

They walked up to the door that was flanked by two guards. The door opened to reveal the Chancellor sitting on his chair. Palpatine looked up as they entered.

"Anakin! You're back," he exclaimed. "Did you find anything?"

"Yes, Chancellor, I did. I found an ancient text of the Sith, the plans of a Death Star and a recorded conversation between Master Yoda and Master Windu."

"And what was said in that conversation?" he asked softly.

Anakin stared out the window at the passing ships. "Apparently the Jedi are planning to take over the Republic."

There was a rustling of robes as Palpatine stood up. He started to pace.

"Just as I suspected. The curtain of the Dark side has fallen."

He fell silent, still pacing.

"So the text is true?" asked Anakin.

He stopped pacing and looked at Anakin solemnly.

"Yes, it is. How do you feel about that?"

"And everything else? Is that true as well?" he carried on, ignoring Palpatines question. He didn't want the evidence to be true. It just _could not_ be true.

Palpatine nodded, and then looked at him expectantly.

Anakin lowered his brows.

"If all this is true, then why have I not felt it in all the years I have been in the Jedi Temple?"

"Only the Masters know the truth. They reveal it to all the new Masters and those that do not like the truth are disposed of - stealthily so that nobody knows. The Masters hide it well, exceptionally well now that the Dark side is so strong."

Anakin could feel the anger rising within him. He wanted to fight, he wanted revenge.

"How do you feel Anakin?" asked Palpatine again.

"I feel angered, betrayed…but I also feel… saddened," replied Anakin truthfully, realising that he was indeed sad.

Palpatine nodded and dropped his earnest gaze. He resumed his pacing.

"The Jedi have always found a way to incriminate the Sith. Now they are after me, the mysterious Darth Sidious…surprised about that Padme?" he said, looking at the shocked Padme.

She was silent for a few moments, trying to comprehend that fact in her mind. Without answering Palpatine, she turned to Anakin.

"You knew of this, Anakin?" she whispered

Anakin nodded and stared into her eyes.

"I wanted you to come in here with an open mind about the Sith," he whispered back, trying to make her understand why he did not tell her about the Sith.

"How do you know that he is not lying, Ani? The Jedi hid it from everyone, how do you know he isn't hiding it from you?" She felt tears sting her eyes.

"The evidence, Padme. The recording of the conversation couldn't have been faked. I can sense that he is with us – you can trust him."

"Like the way you trusted Obi-Wan?"

Anakin drew his head back abruptly as if he had been slapped. His face turned stony.

"That was before I saw the evidence, Padme."

She watched him for a second or two, knowing that she had hurt him unintentionally. She took a deep mouthful of air and turned back to Palpatine.

"If-if the Sith are not on the Dark side, why do they-or you- use the name 'Darth'?" she asked. She was struggling to believe what was being said.

"It was forced on us by the Jedi, long ago, and it became tradition."

Padme bowed her head, troubled. Then she straightened resolutely and looked at Palpatine.

"So…what do we have to do?"

Palpatine stood still, thinking.

"We shall go into hiding," he said, coming to a decision.

"We?" asked Padme.

"Yes, I am coming with you. The Jedi will find out about me soon so I may as well go now."

"Are we not going to fight the Jedi?" demanded Anakin angrily. "They're taking over the Republic and we are just going to hide?"

"Your anger clouds your senses, Anakin. There are three who know the truth and a whole temple full of Jedi who believe that the Sith are on the Dark side. We cannot fight back now. There are too few of us. If we wait, if we hide, we shall have time to train more Sith and there will be more people fighting back. Come, let us go to your ship."


	4. Collision Course

The trio went up the hatchway of the ship.

"Which planet are you taking us to?" asked Anakin.

"We are going to a planet named Zeta Doradus," answered Palpatine, "it is far enough to escape, yet close enough to get to Coruscant with speed."

Anakin pushed the button to close the hatchway. "Do you know the co-ordinates?"

"Oh yes, Zeta was where I was planning to hide when the time came – with or without you." He started for the cockpit.

Padme, who had been quiet for the trip from Palpatine's chambers to the ship, spoke. "How do you know that we should even hide – that we can hide?" she asked suddenly.

The men stopped in their tracks.

"How do you mean?"

"They have got plans for a Death Star. How do you know that they haven't already built it and that they aren't already planning to take over the Republic? And how do you know that they can't find us on this planet that you're taking us to?"

Palpatine sighed heavily. "For the Death Star, I know they haven't completed the construction yet. They may not have even started to build it yet but the plans of the Death Star that Anakin took are uncompleted plans and they can't complete it properly without the plan of the entire thing. The Death Star is a vast and complicated weapon – they cannot carry on building it without the plans and to draw up a new plan and finish the construction could take four or five years."

"And how do you know that they can't find us on Zeta Doradus?"

"As for that, I do not know, I can only hope that they won't," he answered gravely and with that he disappeared into the cockpit.

Padme turned to Anakin uneasily.

"How do you know that he isn't just trapping us? That he isn't just going to hand us over to the Jedi once he has gained our trust?" she asked fretfully.

Anakin took her by the hands and led her towards the infirmary where Luke and Leia were being kept.

"I'm sure he wouldn't do that, Padme. As I said, he can be trusted."

Padme was silent, knowing that he was still hurting from her earlier comment. They reached the babies' cots and they stopped. They looked down at them, innocent and peaceful as they slept and pondered their own hearts, their muddled feelings of doubt and fear about the things that had happened. Padme sniffed and gripped Anakin's hand a little firmer.

"I'm sorry, Ani. I didn't mean to hurt you."

He looked down at her and squeezed her hand back.

"I know, sweetheart. But you were right, I shouldn't have trusted him."

Padme turned to him and embraced him. He held her tightly and stroked her hair comfortingly.

"You weren't to know, Ani," she said from his chest. "I didn't know either and I loved him just like you did."

Anakin closed his eyes, feeling the tears coming. The sadness in his heart was strong; he missed the person Obi-Wan seemed to be terribly. The person he could become if he is turned back to the Light. He felt Padme pull away from him. She looked up into his troubled eyes that were overshadowed by a furrowed brow with her own sad ones. She leaned up against him and kissed him. Their tears mingled together as he responded, looking for comfort in her kiss just as she looked for comfort in his.

* * *

A few hours later, well into their journey, Anakin was woken up by a slight tremor that ran through the hull of the ship. He turned on his side and looked at Padme who was still sleeping at his side. He was about to go back to sleep when another bigger tremor ran through the ship. The babies started to cry and he sat up in the bed. He stood up and hurriedly got dressed, waking Padme up once he had finished.

"Padme, wake up."

When she didn't wake up, he bent forward to shake her gently on the shoulder.

"Padme."

She stirred and opened her eyes. She smiled as she saw him, and then bolted up as she heard the babies' cries.

"What's going on, Ani?" she asked, getting dressed.

"I don't know, honey, but I'll find out if you'll take care of Luke and Leia."

She nodded and he gave her a peck on the cheek.

"I'll be right back," he told her, running out the room.

He made his way down the corridors of the ship and entered the cockpit, where he saw Palpatine already sitting on the pilot seat.

"What's going on?" he asked a little breathlessly.

"We're being attacked by a couple of Clone fighters. They have destroyed one of the shield generators already," Palpatine answered tightly, concentrating on the flying.

Anakin looked through the windscreen and watched as one of the fighters swooped in and fired.

"Are the rest of the generators up?"

"Yes, though that won't do us much good."

He retreated out of the room and ran to the infirmary where Padme would be.

"There are two Clone fighters attacking us – no doubt sent by the Jedi," he announced to Padme and the babies on his arrival.

Padme's eyes widened in distress. "What are we going to do, Anakin?"

"I need you to take of them," he answered, gesturing at the babies, "and I will fly this ship and try to get us out of this."

"But I want to help, Ani."

"Who will take care of Luke and Leia?"

"The medical droid," she answered. "They'll be safe enough."

Anakin looked at her face and knew from the set of her chin that she was going to help no matter what he said.

"All right, then, come."

She put Leia back into the cot and had a word with the medical droid while Anakin waited. When she was done, they both ran to the cockpit.

Reaching the cockpit, they found Palpatine still sitting there. Padme sat down on the unoccupied chair as Anakin walked over to Palpatine.

"Here, let me control the ship," he offered.

Palpatine nodded grimly, not taking his eyes off the controls. He stood up slowly and Anakin took his place.

"I'll get one of the droids to go up and fix the shield generator," he said, sweeping out of the room in his black robes.

"How're we looking?" Anakin asked Padme.

"Good. We just need that shield up and then we'll be fine."

Anakin nodded and frowned in concentration.

"Pity this ship doesn't have any guns," he muttered as he dived around, trying to avoid the shots that were coming at them.

Suddenly, the ship gave a violent shake and red lights started to flash on the ship's diagram. A warning appeared, telling them that one of the ships engines has failed. Anakin glanced at it in alarm.

"Oh no, this can't be good. Padme, I think you should go back to the infirmary and get the children into a safer place."

"Why?"

"We're going to have to crash land on the nearest planet – we won't make it to Zeta without that engine."

Even before he finished the sentence, Padme was gone, rushing to the infirmary. Anakin looked down at the space map and found the closest planet: Carityne. He veered away from their original course and set course for Carityne, with the two Clone fighters still pursuing and firing. For the next couple of minutes, Anakin dodged the lasers using the force while trying to reach Carityne in time.

At last, he saw the big orange planet in front of him. It got bigger and bigger and then suddenly, they were in the atmosphere, shooting out of the orange sky like a thick needle. Anakin desperately pulled back on the controls, pulling the ship up so that they would not hit the surface of the planet with the nose. The ship responded, tilting its nose up so that its body was parallel to the ground. Then, there was a terrible jarring as the ship slammed into the hard ground. There was an awful noise as metal crunched and scraped against metal. Anakin was thrown out of his seat and into the controls. He cracked his head on the steering wheel and he fell unconscious. In their bedroom, Padme shielded her children with her body as ornaments flew in their direction and Palpatine was thrown against the ceiling of the ship, getting another blow as he fell down hard onto the floor. There was a dreadful silence. The loud silence that occurs after a disaster.

The two fighter ships circled above them for a few minutes, then, satisfied, they disappeared from the sky as they flew back into the darkness of space.

* * *

Please review!! I want to know what you guys think!


	5. Locomotion Problems

I've forgotten that ships have names until now :P so this is Anakin's ship: _The Eagle of the Stars_. I think it's a bit lame but that's the best I could come up with.

* * *

There was a terrible jarring as the ship slammed into the hard ground. There was an awful noise as metal crunched and scraped against metal. Then, there was a dreadful silence. The loud silence that occurs after a disaster.

Inside the _Eagle_, crouched against a corner, Padme lifted her head cautiously and looked around at the devastation in the bedroom, taking shuddering breaths. Objects lay broken and scattered across the floor, the furniture was in disarray. She looked down at Luke and Leia in her arms; they gazed back at her with wide eyes, not making a sound, as if they were afraid of breaking the dreadful silence that surrounded them. She hugged them closer to her body, relieved that nothing had happened to them. Then she carefully stood up and walked warily across the room to the door, careful not to step on the sharp debris. Thinking of Anakin, she hurried out into the corridor and made her way to the cockpit.

* * *

"Anakin…"

A voice floated in and out of his head in the darkness.

"Anakin!"

He felt himself responding to the voice. His eyelids fluttered.

"Oh, Ani."

He felt someone's hand slip into his. His brain began to wake up from the darkness and he opened his eyes to see who was next to him. He frowned, his vision blurry. He rubbed his eyes with his hand and saw Padme holding his hand, with tears streaming down her face. He reached out and wiped a tear away. She gave him a watery smile.

"I thought you were gone," she sniffed, holding his hand tight.

"I'll never leave you," he said faintly, giving her a small smile.

He grimaced as that movement sent a spasm of agony across his forehead. He reached up to his forehead.

"No, don't," Padme told him, slipping her hand out of his to catch his other wrist, "you've cut yourself deeply. I should get you to the medical droid. Come on."

"How're Luke and Leia?" he asked, struggling to get up.

Padme helped him up and slung one of his arms around her shoulders.

"They're okay. They're here with me. I need you to help me carry one of them."

He nodded and held out his arm. She handed Leia to him, settling her carefully in his arm, then bent down and lifted Luke gently into her arm. She put her other arm around his waist to support him and together, they made their way to the infirmary.

In another passage, Palpatine painfully picked himself up, his old body not having taken kindly to the hard double blows he had incurred. His left ankle throbbed as he stood on it, causing him to stagger and almost fall. He steadied himself by the wall, panting hard from pain and limped towards the infirmary, stumbling once or twice as his sprained ankle gave out beneath him.

* * *

Anakin opened the hatchway and walked down onto Carityne soil. Everything was orange, the ground, the sky and the clouds. He looked around at the desolate surroundings.

"Do you think we'll be able to get off this place?" said Padme coming up behind him.

Anakin turned around. "I don't know. I have to see the extent of the damage and see if I can fix it."

She walked forward to his side and they started to walk around the ship, inspecting the damages the _Eagle_ had sustained from the crash landing.

"How's Palpatine's ankle?" asked Anakin scrutinizing the wing.

"He'll be fine. He sprained it badly though. How's your head feeling?"

"It's feeling better. It's not aching so much anymore."

She smiled at him and reached for his hand. Her smile faded as her mind turned to more important things.

"How did the Jedi find us so quickly?" she asked.

"Obi-Wan probably told them. He got to Coruscant before us and they sent the Clones to follow us; to find out where we were going."

She, frowned, worried, as another thought came to her mind.

"Do you think they sensed Leia and Luke?"

Anakin looked at her thoughtfully.

"I don't know. Even if they did, they probably think that we're dead from the crash."

"So they'll stop looking for us then."

"Hopefully. I don't know what Yoda thinks like anymore."

They walked on in silence, reflecting on the sudden changes in their lives; how they don't really know the people they considered to be friends, who seemed to be their friends. They stopped at the broken engine. Anakin regarded it thoughtfully, frowning.

"Can you fix it?" asked Padme.

Anakin sighed and shook his head. "No, it's too badly damaged."

"What can we do?"

"I don't know. We should see what Palpatine thinks; maybe he'll have some ideas of what to do."

Palpatine was still sitting on one of the infirmary beds, his left leg propped up on a chair, allowing the medical droid to work on his swollen ankle when Anakin and Padme entered again. Padme went straight to the babies and Anakin sat opposite him.

"How did it go?" asked Palpatine.

Anakin shook his head. "The engine can't be fixed; it's too badly damaged."

Palpatine sighed. "That complicates the situation. Is there anything else that has to be repaired?"

"No, the rest of the ship seems to be fine."

"What do you think we should do?" asked Padme from the cots.

Palpatine deliberated for a few moments then sighed again. "We can only search for another engine."

"But it could be days before we find something suitable, if there is _anything_ in this place. We can find nothing here. This planet is empty," argued Padme.

"It's the only hope we have. If you try, you may find something but if you don't, you'll never find anything."

Padme fell silent, troubled but knowing that this is true.

"How are we going to do this? We can't just walk around without knowing where to go; that'll be pointless."

"Yes, and we're going to have to find a faster way to search for this engine. Do we have any speeder bikes onboard, Anakin?"

"No."

"Landspeeders?"

"No. There aren't any other vehicles onboard."

Palpatine furrowed his brow and sat still, thinking. The droid finished dressing his ankle and he took his foot off the chair. The silence stretched, all three of them thinking of a way out of the dilemma. Anakin straightened up abruptly, startling the others out of their reverie.

"The mountain," he said.

"Which mountain?" asked Padme.

"There's a mountain just north of us. I saw it earlier, when we were outside checking the damages. If we climb to the top, we'll have a panoramic view of this area and we'll be able to see if there's anything that we can use to make a new engine."

Padme frowned, trying to remember the mountain. Her brow cleared as she remembered it, then her face turned into an expression of alarm.

"But it's too steep, Anakin. We can't make it to the peak."

"We don't have to – we only need some height to see further around us. What do you think, Chancellor?"

Palpatine nodded. "It's a good plan. You two can go; I'll stay and look after the children and the ship."

"But – "

"I am not going to be able to climb a mountain with this ankle and someone needs to look after the babies and the ship."

Anakin conceded and held out a hand to Padme. "Padme?"

She looked towards her babies indecisively, then towards him. She nodded and grasped his hand. He smiled reassuringly at her.

"They'll be fine, sweetheart, nothing will happen to them."

She nodded again, some of the worry leaving her face. She took a firmer hold of Anakin's hand.

"Good luck, may the force be with you," said Palpatine.

"May the force be with you," replied Anakin.

They nodded at him and walked out the infirmary door to the hatchway.

* * *

An hour later, they arrived at the foot of the mountain. It was bare, no plants grew on it. They stared up at the sheer height of the mountain.

"You sure about this, Ani?"

"Yes, we only need to climb half way up – to that ridge - to get a good view. We'll be all right," he promised, starting to climb up the slope. Padme followed behind him slowly, and then ran to catch up with him. They started to make their way up the mountain, side by side.

As the orange sun began to set behind the orange horizon, they made it to the ridge. Anakin bent over his knees, panting with exertion while Padme sat down to catch her breath. She then stood up and walked over to Anakin.

"Ani, there's something following us," she said softly.

"Yes, it's a small carnivore of some sort. It won't do us any harm."

She nodded. "Shall we start looking?"

"Okay." Anakin unclipped a pair of binoculars from his belt and handed it to Padme, and then he unclipped a second pair for himself. They put the binoculars to their eyes and started to sweep the area around them, Padme searching on the other side of the mountain while Anakin searched where _The Eagle _was. A few moments later, Padme drew in a breath of surprise.

"Ani, come look at this!"

Anakin turned around to her and she stood away from her binoculars, holding them in place for him to see. Anakin bent down and focused through Padme's binoculars, then straightened up with a grin.

"Did you see it?"

"Yes! What good luck indeed," he said chuckling.

"Come, Ani," said Padme laughing, "Let's go." She started to scramble down the mountain side away from _The Eagle_.

Just as it was getting dark, they arrived at the thing they saw through the binoculars. It was the wreckage of another ship. Anakin walked up to it, examining the hull.

"This must've been here for some time. It's covered in dust," he said, wiping the hull with his fingers.

"Do you think the engine will work on our ship?"

"It should," he said, hurrying to the first engine.

Padme followed behind him. Anakin bent in for a closer look, scrutinizing it.

"Can it?" asked Padme.

Anakin nodded and stared intently at the engine, which slowly started to pull itself out. He settled it down on the ground and turned to embrace Padme.

"Let's get back to our ship, Ani," said Padme happily.

"Yes, let's," he said softly, smiling. They walked back towards the mountain, hand in hand, with the engine floating up behind them.


	6. A Prophecy

The next morning saw Anakin and Padme in front of the broken engine of _The Eagle._ Using the force, he carefully eased it out, Padme severing all the wires as he did. He made the new engine float up, hovering it in front of the wires. He crouched down opposite Padme, on the other side of the engine and began to attach the cables as quickly as he could with a pair of pliers.

"I hope the age of this thing won't make a difference," said Padme with concern.

"No, I'm pretty sure it won't," grunted Anakin, twisting the wires together.

A few minutes passed as he finished joining the wires.

"Shall I ask Palpatine to start the ship?" offered Padme, standing up when he was done.

Anakin shook his head, squinting in the sun. "No, I can ask him from here," he said, standing up and taking her hand. They walked a few steps away from the engine and stood at a safe distance from it. Anakin sent a mental call to Palpatine and they waited for him to start the ship.

"I hope this works" stated Padme looking at the engine in anticipation.

Anakin squeezed her hand, sharing the same hopes. Suddenly, the ship gave a shudder and Padme laughed with joy as the newly installed engine started up and worked perfectly.

"It works, Ani!" she said excitedly, turning to him.

Her smile faded away as she saw the frown on his face.

"What is it?"

"Something is wrong. Palpatine wants us to go to the cockpit," he said tightly, "come."

He started for the cockpit. Padme furrowed her brow at the engine, wondering what could be wrong and then ran up to catch up with Anakin.

* * *

Palpatine looked up as the two of them came in.

"What's wrong?" asked Anakin straight away.

He beckoned them to the monitor showing the blue print of the ship.

"The engines were from an older ship, was it not?" he demanded as they looked at it.

"Yes, it was," replied Anakin, studying the the plan of the ship.

Padme's face cleared as realization came to her, "Older ship's have four engines."

"Yes, older ships have four engines because they were weaker. You took one of the engines but being weaker in power, it is not enough to power our ship."

"So we need another engine for enough power," said Anakin thoughtfully, "I'm going to have to get another one."

"How're you going to attach a third engine to the ship?" asked Padme being practical.

Anakin shrugged. "I'll just have to find a way."

"Yes, that you have to do. You can take Padme, if she is willing to go," he said, looking over Anakin's shoulder at her.

Anakin turned to her. "Are you coming?"

"No, I should spend some time with the babies. I don't feel comfortable leaving them for so long," she said shaking her head.

Anakin nodded understandingly. "Okay, I should be back in the late afternoon if I go now."

"Good, then I'll leave you to it," said Palpatine, sensing that Padme wanted to talk to Anakin. He strode out the door.

Padme looked at Anakin.

"Are you sure you're going to be fine?"

"Of course, darling, the journey isn't that bad and besides, you need to spend time with Luke and Leia so they won't forget who you are," he said, reassuring her.

Padme laughed in spite of herself.

"What about you? Won't they forget you?"

"Oh, I'm sure they won't," he answered slipping his arms around her waist. "How could they when I'm in your mind all the time?"

"How do you know you're in my mind all the time?"

"Because you love me," he said, bending down and kissing her.

Padme kissed him back, smiling as she did.

"You need to get going, Ani." She broke the kiss.

Anakin sighed and looked into her beautiful eyes. "All right then. I'll see you later."

He gave her one last kiss and went on his way.

* * *

The air was still and stifling as Anakin marched on over the desert like terrain of dry orange soil, halfway to the mountain and attempting to work out how to attach another engine to the ship in the heat. He stopped, taking out a flask and taking a mouthful of water. A cool, unexpected breeze blew up around his ankles, as he drank and he had a moment of relief as it cooled him down. He stood for a little longer before marching on. As he did, he felt the breeze become a wind, getting rapidly stronger and stronger as time went by. It started whipping up the sand, stinging his face and hands. Recognizing the symptoms of a sand storm, he quickly pulled up his hood, covering all of his face but the eyes. Knowing that he has a better chance of surviving if he made for the ship, he turned around started to run back the way he came from.

As he neared the ship, panting, a powerful wind blew up, stirring a mass of sand up around him. Anakin slowed to a walk and bent his head, covering his whole face, walking blind, aware that he wouldn't be able to see anyway.

After what felt like an hour, he knew that something was wrong. He had missed the ship in the fury of the sandstorm. He made a little gap to see through, realizing that he _had _to find shelter. Forcing his way forward a few more steps, he saw a blurry outline of a hut. Only knowing that he needed shelter from the storm, he didn't have time to wonder about what a hut was doing in the middle of nowhere. Anakin struggled on to the hut. Leaning against the wall, he reached around for the door. He pushed it open and fell inside, kicking the door shut behind him. He lay on the floor for a second or two, getting his breath back.

"What might you be doing in the middle of a sandstorm?" asked a misty female voice out of the shadows.

Anakin jumped up in surprise, drawing his lightsaber at the same time.

"Who are you?"

"I live here," said the strangely dressed woman, stoking a little fire in the middle of the room.

Sensing that she is meaning no harm, he switched off his lightsaber and relaxed his stance.

"I thought this place was empty. What do you do here?"

"I am a seer. I have been waiting for you," she replied in the same misty voice.

"You _knew_ I was coming?"

"Oh, yes, and I have answers for you – if you ask," she said with a little smile, moving into the light so Anakin see her fully for the first time.

Her black hair was long, almost reaching her bottom and her big eyes were completely black. She looked scrawny, her rag-clothes being too big for her.

"What do you eat here?" said Anakin, asking the first question that came to his mind.

The peculiar woman's lips curved up mysteriously. "A little bit of this and a little bit of that," was all she said.

Anakin frowned at the vague answer and waited for more.

She gazed at him unblinkingly. Anakin started to feel uncomfortable, and then she started to speak slowly in a voice that rang in his ears.

"You will find what you need close by, but wait until the storm has passed before you venture out or you will miss it. You have four years before you must execute your plans. On the fifth year, it will be too late. I see a grim battle ahead of you, my young Sith," she prophesized.

Anakin stood for a moment, taking it all in then looked at her skew.

"How do you know that I am no Jedi?" Anakin asked suspiciously.

The woman smiled enigmatically at him again.

"As, I said, I am a seer. Do what I have told to do and remember what I have said. In a few minutes, when the storm ends, head north. You should reach what you seek for in a few minutes. This is all I'm going to tell you."

The woman retreated out of the room silently, leaving Anakin with many thoughts to contemplate upon. He strolled around the room, examining the many curious objects in it. Then, he walked to the little round table in the corner of the room and pulled out a chair to sit on. He stared at the fire, committing what the seer had just said to his memory, making a note to himself that he had to tell Palpatine and Padme.

* * *

Suddenly, there was a silence, the howling wind of the sandstorm stopped blowing. Anakin started out of his nap. He stood up and went to the door. He opened it and peered out. Grains of sand were still settling down, back on the ground from their turbulent flight in the air. Anakin stepped out of the hut, his feet sinking down in the pile of sand that had gathered in front of the doorstep. He looked back, wondering if he should say something to the seer but then decided not to, not wanting to disturb her. Following the woman's instructions, he glanced up at the sun. Marking the east and west of the sun, he found north and started to trek in that direction in the once again still air.

Ten minutes later, he got a surprise. Anakin had been wondering what the woman was talking about but he would never had imagined _this. _Standing in front of him, unbothered by the sandstorm that had just passed, was a ship. The ship seemed new and it was whole, not having been crash landed. Seeing that the hatch had been left open, Anakin ran across the sand to it, extending his senses as he did, checking for any sign of a living being onboard. Sensing nothing but being careful, he drew out his saber and walked up the hatchway cautiously. He peered into the ship and seeing nothing, he retracted the blade of his weapon. He walked noiselessly down the corridor to the cockpit. Abruptly –

"Master Skywalker! Master Skywalker! You're alive!"

A series of happy sounding beeps followed the exclamation.

Anakin whirled around, switching his blade on.

"3PO! R2! What are you doing here?" His eyes widened in surprise as he saw the robot he built years ago. He retracted the blade again.

"We thought you were dead! Obi-Wan was ordered here to see if you were alive – he was told that you crash landed on this dreadful planet."

Anakin drew back, his eyes narrowing. "Obi-Wan? Is he here?"

"Why, yes, he is. He set off to find you and Padme as soon as that terrible storm ended. I shudder to think of what would happen if I were caught in all that sand. My poor joints!"

R2 added a few beeps and blew a raspberry.

"Don't be so rude, R2," scolded the golden robot.

R2 beeped defensively but was ignored by 3PO, who sighed.

"Do you think he will be back soon?" asked Anakin, a plan forming in the back of his mind.

"Oh, I don't think so," answered 3PO, turning back to Anakin. "He doesn't know where you are so he's going to have to keep on searching since I have no way to contact him."

"Good. Do you have any speeder bikes onboard?"

"Yes, we do. It's down that corridor to the right, then you turn left and then –"

Anakin gave a firm nod, interrupting the robot. "Right, 3PO, I am going to take three bikes with me and I don't want you to tell Obi-Wan that I've been here if he gets back before me."

3PO cocked his head to the side. "But why? He is looking for you."

"Just promise me that."

The robot bowed at his waist. "Of course, Master Skywalker."


	7. Confrontation

Three speeder bikes sped across the desert terrain of Carityne. The sun hung at an angle in the sky, shedding a bright orange light throughout the land and casting long black shadows. On the horizon, far away, Anakin could see the hazy outline of the mountain that he and Padme had climbed. He was riding on one of the bikes, using the force to carry the other two in front of him.

A little while later, he could also see the silhouette of his ship. He curved around in an arc and made a beeline for it, the sand flying up around him, reaching it in a minute or two. Hopping off the bike, Anakin extended his senses and checked for any signs of Obi-Wan. Sensing nothing, he ran up the hatchway and into the dirty-white interior of the ship. He called mentally for Palpatine, asking him to take whatever is needed and meet him at the entrance.

"Ani?"

Anakin turned around and was greeted by Padme ramming into him.

"Ani! You're okay! I've been so worried about you," she said, relief flooding her beautiful face.

Anakin hugged her back and then cupped her angel face in his hands. "I'm fine, Padme," he said gently.

She smiled at him, relieved. "So did you find the other engine in the storm?"

Anakin shook his head and looked at her seriously. "No, sweetheart, but I found another ship."

Padme's brown eyes lighted up. "But that's good news! We can get off this place now."

"It's Obi-Wan's ship."

Her lips parted in shock and she rocked back on her heels. She felt as if someone had just reached in and squeezed all the air out of her lungs.

"He's here?" she whispered, looking up at him with frightened eyes. "But I thought that he was gone. The clones must have told them about the crash but why didn't they leave us alone?

Anakin stroked her hair comfortingly, as if he could stroke all her fear away. He could understand her fear, after what had happened on Mustafar. "The Jedi aren't stupid, Padme. 3PO said that they sent Obi-Wan to find out if we _are_ actually dead." Wanting to reassure her he added, "But don't worry, honey, nothing bad will happen to us, I promise."

Padme took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. She knew she must keep a level head at times of danger. "I love you, Ani," she murmured, sending all of her love to him with those words. "And I can't wait to meet 3PO and R2," she added, smiling.

"I love you, too, Padme," whispered Anakin, raining a couple of kisses down her neck.

They both looked up as they heard the sound of boots around the corner. Palpatine appeared, wearing his usual heavy black cloak and black knee high boots, carrying two big rucksacks filled with their necessary belongings. Anakin and Padme have never seen him dress in any colour other than black.

"What have you found, Anakin?"

"Obi-Wan's ship. He was not there so I took three speeders."

His white eyebrows sank down over his eyes, making his face look mighty fierce. "Where was he?"

"He was out looking for us," Anakin said reluctantly, not wanting to scare Padme any more than she already is. "We may be able to get back before him."

The old man nodded his white head.

"Sounds like a plan. Let's get going then," he said, limping slightly down the hatchway.

"What about the babies, Anakin?" asked Padme before he could follow.

Anakin stalled for a second, feeling guilty for having forgotten them. "Uh…we can strap them to us?"

Padme thought about it for a couple of minutes, looking at him with the slightest frown marring her smooth skin. Anakin looked back at her with questioning eyes, head a little to one side. Getting a tad impatient after a long wait, he read her thoughts on his idea.

"They'll be very safe strapped to us," he said, resolving the conflict in her mind.

Padme drew herself up to her full height and crossed her arms over her chest. "Anakin Skywalker, don't read my thoughts," she said in mock anger.

Anakin only grinned and caught her by the waist, pulling her to him and destroying her dignified posture. Not being able to hold her posture in his arms, she put on a stern face instead.

"This is no time to play, Anakin."

"So are we going to strap?"

"You promise they'll be safe?"

"Yes, sweetie, I promise."

"One problem, though."

Anakin drew his head back to get a better look at her face. "What is it?"

"I don't know how to ride one of those bikes," she said in a stage whisper.

"You mean you've never ridden one of them?" he asked incredulously.

"No," she said, her voice turning into a more serious tone.

Anakin gathered from the tone of her voice that it was time to stop joking around. He ran a hand through his honey brown hair. "It's really easy; I can teach you on the way to the infirmary...so, what is it?

"Okay then," consented Padme, "come on."

She slipped out of his arms like a fish and ran off to the ship's hospital, Anakin following close behind her.

Twenty minutes later, Padme and Anakin walked out of _The Eagle_, each with a baby strapped securely to their front with the infirmary bed sheets as an impromptu sling. Palpatine smiled at the sight.

"…just push the button there and turn the handles to steer. You got all that?" said Anakin, coming into hearing range.

Padme nodded nervously and Anakin helped her onto one of the bikes, making a last check. He bent down and kissed her and then he went to the last bike and climbed on, careful not to hurt Luke who was strapped comfortably against his chest. He turned to the others.

"Are you ready?"

Palpatine nodded affirmative and Padme took a nervous breath.

"Yes."

"Okay then, follow me."

They shot off into the setting sun, back towards Obi-Wan's ship.

* * *

The sun was now setting rapidly behind the mountain, sending its last vestiges of light shooting out from behind the peaks. The shifting sand dunes cooled quickly, giving no attempt at keeping the heat in. Padme, Anakin and Palpatine now have Obi-Wan's ship in sight, after traveling across many miles of empty sand dunes. Padme sat easily in her seat, having gotten used to the bike many minutes ago. Feeling more relaxed than she had since she found Anakin on Mustafar; she looked around at her surroundings, admiring the harsh beauty of the Carityne desert with the dry shrubs hugging close to the sand. Turning her attention to Anakin, she admired how his brown hair was flying back in the wind.

"We're nearly there!" shouted Anakin over the wind.

It immediately snapped her out of her daydream and her carefree feeling was replaced with one of uneasiness as she saw how close the ship was. Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, she saw the dark figure of a man.

"Anak – "she let out a scream. It was cut off as she felt something push her, sending her flying out of her seat. She landed hard on her back onto the sand, arms wrapped protectively around Leia. She tried to breathe but couldn't, her lungs having been numbed by the force of her fall. Then she blacked out.

Anakin sensed that something was wrong. A second later, Padme screamed. He and Palpatine skidded their speeders to a halt, sending up a wave of sand. Anakin was out his seat, leaping backwards off his bike before his bike had stopped.

"Take them to the ship!" he yelled to Palpatine, who had pulled up his hood to conceal his face the moment the trouble had started.

The hooded figure nodded and raised his gloved hand, using the force to snatch Luke to safety. He raised his other hand lifting Padme and Leia. He turned around and sprinted as fast as he could to the ship.

Anakin's lightsaber flew into his hand, igniting blue. Obi-Wan turned around igniting his own red lightsaber, the red light throwing a demonic gleam on his face.

"So, you're alive," he sneered maliciously.

Anakin did not respond to the tone of his voice as Obi-Wan would've thought he would.

"Why did you join the Dark side, Obi-Wan?" he asked, looking at his former master sadly. "Why?"

Obi-Wan snarled and charged at him, swinging his saber. Anakin dodged easily, not using his lightsaber, not wanting to be drawn into a fight. Obi-Wan pivoted around, lashing out gracefully at Anakin, who jumped up to avoid it yet again. Obi-Wan stopped, enraged that Anakin wouldn't fight him.

"Fight me, Anakin; let loose all your hate for the Jedi who deceived you!" He wanted Anakin to be at his side – the Dark side.

Reading his mind, Anakin answered, "It's not too late for you to turn back to the Light, Obi-Wan. If you want me to fight at your side, turn back to the Light, for I will never turn to the Dark."

Obi-Wan slashed his lightsaber down, his face still a picture of fury, although Anakin could read the pain in his face as well. "You don't know what you are talking about, Anakin! You don't know the full power of the Dark side; you don't know what we are capable of!"

"Maybe not, Obi-Wan, but I know enough of the Light side to know that I will never turn."

"And why is that?" spat Obi-Wan.

"Because I know what it is like to love. I loved you Obi-Wan, for the person you pretended to be, you were like the father I never had," said Anakin softly, staring into Obi-Wan's eyes, willing him to turn back. "Please turn back to the Light, Obi-Wan."

Obi-Wan was taken aback by Anakin's words. It stirred up a powerful feeling he had never felt for a long time and he felt confused. The feeling went against everything he had been taught by the Jedi Masters when he joined the council, everything he himself had learned after _that day_. The feeling brought back a memory from a long time ago, when he was young and foolish.

_He walked through the lush green garden of Jada's house carrying a beautiful white flower he had brought earlier that day. Turning around the corner of a hedge, he saw her. He stood there for a moment; just looking at her, letting his eyes run over every detail of her beautiful face – _

He ripped himself away from that memory, knowing that it would only bring pain. He stared back into Anakin's eyes, searching for something. Then, realizing that he was being weak, he eradicated that confused feeling by getting angry.

"How dare you play mind tricks on me?" he shouted.

"I didn't do anything. But you felt something didn't you? I could see it in your eyes. I know you aren't fully corrupted by the Dark, yet. You couldn't kill me in Mustafar. Think about that feeling you had, Obi-Wan, and come back to the Light." With that, Anakin loped the last ten meters to the ship, leaving Obi-Wan standing with his red lightsaber at his side feeling thoroughly confused.

* * *

Anakin rushed up the ship into the brilliant white corridors.

"Palpatine?" he called.

A telepathic message reached him, telling him to go to the infirmary. He ran down the passage, anxious to reach Padme.

The door to the infirmary opened quietly, allowing Anakin to step through and make his way to Padme.

"How is she?" he asked concernedly, sitting down at the side of Padme's bed and taking her slender white hands in his.

"The droid said she's going to be fine," answered Palpatine. Then, seeing that Anakin was not at all reassured, he added, "She just had a hard fall, that's all. She's a strong woman, she'll recover soon."

Anakin nodded. "Thank you," he said, looking at him gratefully, grateful to him for saving them and bringing them comfort. Palpatine patted his shoulder.

"I'll go set course for Zeta. You can stay here with her." He swept noiselessly out the door.

Anakin looked at his injured wife. Padme looked so frail and slender, lying on that bed with her dark hair in stark contrast with the white of her skin. He sighed deeply and stroked her hand, willing her to come back.

* * *

A/N: Jada is a made up person and thanks to everyone who reviewed. I hope you liked this chapter. I thought it sucked.


	8. Closure

Anakin lay slumped on the edge of Padme's bed, clutching her hand, in the clinical white of the infirmary. Everything that was not white was grey, made of cold stainless steel. He lay in an exhausted slumber after many days of watching over Padme, unable to sleep for his worry.

The plate-glass doors on the other side of the hospital slid open silently and Palpatine walked in, dressed in his usual attire of black, trying to step lightly around the beds so he would not awake Anakin. He was in a light mood, appreciating that they would reach Zeta Doradus in a few hours – presumably reaching safety as well. His mood dampened a little as he saw the lifeless form of Padme laying on the bed, looking much the same as she had hours earlier when he had brought her in. He sat down opposite Anakin and decided not to wake him, knowing that Padme's situation had made things strenuous for him, having barely answered his many questions on what had happened during the sandstorm. He sat and waited.

Not long after, Anakin stirred. He inhaled deeply and straightened his back groggily, giving himself a long stretch before rubbing his tired eyes which felt big and puffy like a frog's. He ran his hand through his longish messy hair and rolled his shoulders, trying to get rid of the back pain that was bugging him.

"'Morning, Chancellor," he mumbled, noticing him.

"Anakin," greeted Palpatine. "You look terrible," he added after having a glance at Anakin's face. He had dark shadows under his eyes, indicating the lack of sleep and his eyes themselves lacked the usual sparkle of life.

"Thanks," he grunted, too tired to think of a snappy response.

"We are well on our way to Zeta," stated Palpatine, "and we should reach it in a few hours if nothing serious happens."

Anakin inclined his head slightly and then turned his attention back to Padme, gazing at her face and playing with a lock of her smooth brown curls. He felt as though he had the weight of a million star ships weighted down on his shoulders, making him depressed. Palpatine frowned at him solicitously. He had no idea what the young man must be going through but he knew that it couldn't be pleasant.

"Anakin, why don't you take a walk with me through the ship? You should get out of this place once in a while," he suggested, gesturing around him at the prosaic infirmary.

"I need to watch her," he replied monotonously, not even looking up.

"But you've been here for two days! The medical droid will take care of her and besides, 3PO and R2 want to talk to you and I want to know about what happened in the sandstorm and the incident with Obi-Wan myself." He gave him a sympathetic smile, "You have a lot of catching up to do."

Although he was reluctant to leave Padme's side, Anakin saw the sense in his words and decided that it was time to focus on other important things. He nodded and made an effort to put an expression on his face. He gave a small strained smile.

"Okay, I'll be out in a few moments."

Palpatine nodded, satisfied. He stood up, his cloak falling around him like a shroud of dark smoke and walked quietly back out through the glass doors that slipped open to let him through. Anakin looked back at Padme's still face, remembering all the happy times when her perfect features had lighted up with a dazzling smile. The medical droid had told them she had suffered a severe concussion due to the speed they were traveling at and the strength of the force that had sent her flying. Even the soft sand did nothing to moderate her fall. The droid had said that she may not even wake up. He sighed and brought her hand up to kissed it.

"Be strong, Padme," he whispered to her, "and wake up soon. I need you." He got up and gave her hand one last squeeze before turning and walking through the doors to meet Palpatine. They strolled down a passage, letting it take them where ever it would around the ship.

"So, what happened during the storm? How did you find Obi-Wan's ship?" asked Palpatine, starting the conversation.

Glad to be talking and taking his mind off the worry, Anakin related his story of meeting the seer in the strange little hut in the middle of the desert and told Palpatine about the mysterious woman's prediction.

"Do you believe these predictions?" He didn't believe in predictions. Visions of force sensitive beings, yes, but not the predictions of a stranger.

Anakin shrugged. "Well, I found the ship, which _was_ what I was looking for and I think it would be best if we heeded her warnings and play safe, in case they are all true."

Palpatine nodded, keeping an open mind. "Fair enough. Now tell me about the other part of your story – the one with Obi-Wan."

He recounted his meeting with Obi-Wan, telling Palpatine about the things he said to try to turn him back.

"…but I know he felt something – it was a memory, I think. I only saw it for a flash but I think that he was in love at some point in his life, although it was against the laws of the Jedi."

"Perhaps that was why he turned to the dark side. Maybe something happened with their relationship and his heart never was whole again, his anger and sadness drawing him to the dark side," speculated Palpatine. "What did he feel after his confrontation with you?"

"He was more than a little confused," said Anakin with a smile, "I think there's definitely still hope for him - he stopped to think about my words."

Palpatine chuckled a little meanly. "I wonder how he is going to get off Carityne."

They walked on in silence, each submersed in their own thoughts of the future. Anakin was beginning to enjoy his outing around the ship, being more than happy to see colors other than grey and white. He sighed, turning his mind back to the more pressing things.

"Four years, Chancellor, that does not leave us much time to get ourselves ready," he stated thoughtfully. "Do we have a plan?"

Palpatine nodded his head, letting his boots clunk along the floor. "I have the outlines of a plan, the basic plan. You and I can start getting into the details – right here," he stated as they entered a small if lavishly designed living room. There was round table in the middle of the room with comfortable beige colored chairs surrounding it. The curtains framing the windows had intricate little designs patterned on it.

"Why did he take this star skiff instead of a normal fighter ship?" asked Anakin to no one in particular.

"I'm sure he had his reasons," replied Palpatine, sinking down into one of the squishy chairs around the table.

"Excuse me, I need the fresher," announced Anakin as he spotted the fresher.

He navigated his way through the chairs to the other side of the room. He pushed open the doors and bent over the basin, splashing cold water over his face to get rid of the tiredness. He braced his hand on either edge of the basin and stared at his reflection, only realizing now how really terrible he looked. He shook his head at himself and headed back to the comfy looking couches. He dropped into the couch across from Palpatine, letting his weight sink into the soft, spongy couch. He sighed in bliss as he leaned back, relaxing his sore back against the back of the chair. He let his head fall back and closed his eyes.

"So, what do you think we should do?" he asked.

"First, we train more of us," began Palpatine, leaning forward in his chair.

Anakin's eyes snapped open and he looked at him. "Fully train some people in the art of the Sith in four years with only the two of us?"

"Yes, it is not impossible but it will take a lot of work," he replied. "Secondly, we have to plant seeds of doubt into the Jedi Temple and spread the chaos and confusion. Some may even join us in the process, if they believe what we say. And lastly, we will have to find a way of infiltrating the Jedi Council and eliminate the Dark Masters."

Anakin leaned forward with his elbows on his knees. "This will be a lot of work, as you say, and we are also going to have to find a way of picking the Masters off one by one – we won't be able to succeed if they attack together; they'll be too strong."

"Yes, but that is the third stage of the plan; let's concentrate on the first stage – the training of new Sith."

"I have one question about that," said Anakin, "where are we going to train them?"

Palpatine only smiled. "There'll be enough space and I dare say that Padme will like where we are going to live."

Anakin frowned, annoyed at the vague answer. "All right then, where are we going to get the necessary equipment and how are you planning to recruit people, exactly?"

"Well, I have heard that you are good with building things. There is a lovely market close by where we can buy all the necessary items to build what we need. The people there will mistake us for Jedi Knights, coming for their force sensitive offspring to train at the Temple. Most won't question it," he answered reassuringly.

Anakin cocked his head, contemplating the plan. "I suppose it would work. We are going to have to start as soon as possible to get as much training in as possible. Of course, we may have to recruit older children – they will be harder to train but they will be more useful in battle as they can think for themselves."

"Yes," acknowledged Palpatine, "we shall have to do so. This is the first stage of our plan and I would say that we are going to have to proceed with the second part two years down the line. What do you think?"

"Master Skywalker!" came an exclamation from the doorway, interrupting their conversation. "How good to see you out in the ship. Of course there isn't much to see but I suppose that this is quite a change from the infirmary. Oh, my, "said 3PO, noticing Anakin's face at last, "you look awful."

"Yes, I know, you're the second person to tell me that."

"Technically, I can't be classified as a person, regarding the fact that I am not human – "

"What is it 3PO?" said Palpatine, cutting him short before he got too carried away.

"Oh, yes. I was here to tell you that we are going to arrive at Zeta Doradus in a few minutes and I need you to pilot the ship, although I am perfectly capable of doing so myself, of course."

Palpatine smiled at the robot, standing up. "Of course," he echoed, "I'll be right along." Turning to Anakin, he said, "Well, I shall be off. We shall continue developing our plans in our new home."

"Certainly, Chancellor. I shall check on Padme."

They nodded at each other and parted their ways; Palpatine going to the cockpit and Anakin walking back to the infirmary slowly, pondering on their plans. He traced his steps back to the hospital, peering through the large pane of window as he passed. He stopped his tracks, his heart quickening in fear as he saw the medical droid standing by Padme's bed, working on her. Fearing for the worst, he hurried over to the door, his breath coming up short.

"What's happening? Is she okay?" he demanded anxiously, dashing to the droid.

"Yes, Master Skywalker, she has just woken up from her coma."

He sighed in relief. "Thank the Force," he muttered.

"Ani?" said Padme weakly from the bed.

He crouched down next to the bed and took her hand, his eyes brimming with happy tears. "I'm right here, sweetheart, I'm right here. Thank the Force you're alive," he said, emotion chocking his voice. "I was so worried."

Padme smiled up at him. "I love you, too, Ani. Where am I?"

"We've just arrived at Zeta – you woke up just in time." He pushed her hair back from her face and stroked her check lovingly. "How are you feeling, love?"

She gave a small groan. "Not too great," she replied, "I've got a hell of a headache."

Anakin chuckled softly, glad that she was okay. "Do you think you'll be well enough to get to our new home? Palpatine says you'll enjoy it."

"Hmm, I don't know. It's getting quite comfortable in this bed."

"In that case I'm going to have to carry you off the ship," replied Anakin, kissing her knuckles one by one.

"That would be nice. I think I'm going to come with you after all," she said grinning.

There was a slight bump as the ship landed. A few minutes later, Palpatine entered.

"Padme, I'm pleased to see that you've joined us to view our new home," he said with a smile.

"How could I miss it? How're my babies?"

"They're absolutely fine. Now come along, you're in for a surprise."

Anakin rose from his crouched position and bent to pick Padme up, enjoying the sensation of her silky hair falling over his arm. She wrapped her arms around his neck, tucking her head under his chin and the trio made their way out of the ship.

The sight that met them was a beautiful sight.

Padme gasped. "It looks so much like Naboo!" she exclaimed as Anakin set her down, gazing around at the lush field of green grass and the multicolored flowers, spread over the sea of green. Song birds sang their beautiful songs from the dark green forest behind them as if to welcome them to Zeta. Right in front of them, stood a magnificent mansion. Its walls were made of a tarnished white, contrasting with the black roof. To their right was a massive lake, its clear water sparkling invitingly.

"It is, isn't it?" said Anakin softly, wrapping his arms around Padme's stomach and resting his chin on her shoulder, his head next to hers. The three of them stood, enchanted by the beauty and the peace surrounding them, so different from the danger that was around them for so long.

"Come," said Palpatine.

The trio walked towards their mansion and up the many steps between two great columns to the stunningly carved door. The golden light of the setting sun set a fitting atmosphere to the closure of their day.

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**A/N: The next two or three chapters will be the story from the Jedi's point of view with Yoda and Obi-Wan etc and thanks for all those reviews!**

**I'm going overseas on Wednesday for ten days and I don't know if I am going to have time to write during that time. I'll try my best to sneak some time off to write and update. I hope you guys won't mind the long wait and I hope I can get chapter 9 up before I leave.**


	9. 13 Years Ago

**A/N: This is my first time writing about the dark side of the force so I'm not that good at this yet. This chapter and the few after this is taken from the Jedis point of perspective. Nevertheless, enjoy! and I'm leaving after this chapter so there's going to be no update for about 10 days.**

**PS: Please tell me that I spelt Qui-Gon's name right. I'll be very embarrassed if I didn't **

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_**13 Years Ago…**_

The sleek silver ship landed on the hot sands of Tattooine. The hatch opened and Obi-Wan Kenobi and his Master, Qui-Gon Jinn walked down the hatchway and onto the yellow sand.

"What is it that we are looking for, Master?" asked Obi-Wan curiously. He had not been told about why the Jedi Masters had sent them here.

"We're looking for a young boy, Obi-Wan, one that is strong with the force. He is said to be the Chosen One," replied Qui-Gon, stepping lightly across the sand, trying to avoid getting sand in his boots.

"You mean the one that will bring balance to the force?"

"Yes, that is the one I mean," he said shortly. He had already had enough of his padawan's questions during the trip to Tattooine.

They continued walking, a growing mountain of questions popping into Obi-Wan's head about the boy, threatening to erupt. Eventually, he couldn't stand it any longer and he had to ask.

"How do we know that this child is a boy and how do you know that he lives here?"

"That is what Master Yoda told me and he has meditated upon this matter."

Obi-Wan accepted this answer unquestioningly for he knew that Master Yoda is a powerful Jedi Master.

"How would we know which boy he is?"

"We use the force, as per usual."

"Why do we need to find him?"

"So we may train him and help him fulfill his destiny," lied Qui-Gon finally, with a slightly annoyed expression on his face. _Of course the Jedi aren't going to help the boy fulfill his destiny_, he thought viciously,_ but of course, I can't tell my ignorant Padawan, yet._

Sensing that his Master was not in the mood to answer his insatiable questions, he turned his thoughts to the beautiful Jada.

She was prettiest thing, with her long golden hair and fresh blue eyes and Obi-Wan couldn't help but to fall in love with her, even though it's against the laws of the Jedi to have any sentimental attachments. Not wanting his Master to sense his thoughts, he raised his mental shields. He pictured her face in his mind's eye, her satin-like golden hair flowing from the top of her head past her shoulders to end at her bottom. He saw her perfect figure with its perfect curves, dressed in a pure white dress that hugged to her body. And he saved her face for last. Her large eyes were blue like the sky and her lashes were long. Her eyebrows flowed elegantly over her eyes and even her nose was elegant. Her blood red lips were formed the flawless rose…

"Obi-Wan, we're at the village." The sound of the Qui-Gon's voice floated into his ears. He quickly shook the last remnants of Jada from his thoughts and he nodded.

"Okay, where are we going to start?"

"Nowhere," Qui-Gon replied, "we are just going to walk through the streets and we will be able to sense him. He should have a powerful signature."

The pair began their journey through the first street, opening their senses and searching for signs. Obi-Wan gazed around him at the houses that seemed to have been built out of sand and at the many different species of aliens in little kiosks lined up and down the streets.

"Tattooine is a planet that is controlled by the Hutts. We very little influence here," commented Qui-Gon, taking the chance to teach Obi-Wan about the place, keeping up the visage of a responsible Master.

But Obi-Wan wasn't listening, he had sensed something in the force, a signature he had not encountered before.

"Master, do you sense that?" he asked, turning to Qui-Gon.

His Master stopped in his tracks, sensing with the force.

"Yes, come, this way," he said alertly. He strode off down the street, Obi-Wan hurrying to catch up with the tall man's long strides.

They turned left around a corner at the end of the street and found themselves in a large square filled with vendors who sat in the shade of the houses that surrounded them. Qui-Gon paused, Obi-Wan nearly ramming into him.

"Where to?" he asked, slipping to a halt behind Qui-Gon.

His Master didn't answer him. Instead, he just walked over to ones of the sand houses and rapped loudly on the door. Obi-Wan ran up to his side.

"Are you sure this is the house?"

"Yes, my Padawan, I'm sure."

The door opened and a middle-aged woman peered out, taking the appearance of these two strangers in.

"Hello, how may I help you gentlemen?" she asked humbly, tucking her dark hair behind her ears.

Qui-Gon gave a slight bow. "We are looking for a young boy and we believe that he may be living here," he said, getting straight to the point.

"You mean my Ani? What would you want with him?" she said slightly defensively. "What are your names?"

"My name is Qui-Gon Jinn and this is my Padawan, Obi-Wan Kenobi," he replied, gesturing at Obi-Wan. "The Jedi believe that he may be a force sensitive being and we would like to take him to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant to train him in our arts…if you permit it, Mrs.…?"

"Skywalker and my name is Shmi. Why don't you come in and sit down? I'll go get Anakin." She opened the door fully, allowing Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon to enter. She closed the door behind them and indicated for them to sit at the wooden table in the middle of the room.

Qui-Gon stopped her with a question before she could go. "Where is the father?"

"There was no father," she explained, "I just suddenly became pregnant one day."

"Has he ever shown any special gifts?"

"He's the only human who can race in the pod-races," she smiled proudly, "and Ani can build or fix almost anything."

She then walked off to another room, presumably to get her son. Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan sat in silence, waiting for the child to appear.

"Do you think she's telling the truth?" asked Obi-Wan, breaking the silence.

His Master inclined his head. "I could sense no deceit in her."

"But how could that happen?"

"Such is the way of the force, Obi-Wan," he answered as Shmi Skywalker walked in with a little nine-year-old boy at her side. Already, the two Jedi could sense that the boy was strong with the force - very strong.

"But who are they, mom?" the little boy was asking.

"Here we are, Anakin, these men will answer all your questions." His mother ushered him in.

Little Anakin turned to the two strangers sitting at his table. "Who are you?" he asked unabashedly, staring at them.

"We are representatives from the Jedi Council and we're here to take you to the Jedi Temple for training if your mother allows it," said Qui-Gon, getting out of the chair and crouching in front of Anakin so he looked less intimidating. "You just need to take a little test before we take you away if your mother says you can."

He looked up to his mom for guidance.

"Would you like this, Ani?" Shmi asked her son.

Anakin nodded vigorously, but he frowned. "But I don't want to leave you here all alone, mom," he said.

Shmi crouched down to her son's level and smoothed his blonde hair back from his face. "Listen, Anakin, if you go with them, you will have a far better future than what you have here where you are a slave and I want you to have a better life than me."

"Will I be able to visit, mommy?" he asked earnestly.

"Of course, sweetheart, you can visit any time you like."

The little boy turned back to the big Jedi Master and looked at him with big eyes. "Okay, Master Jinn, I'll come with you."

Qui-Gon smiled at him and patted his shoulders and stood up. "Well, then, Anakin, come and sit at the table. I'll just do a midichlorian test before we go."

Anakin climbed onto a chair. "What are midichlorians?"

"They are organisms that live in the cells of almost all living things," he explained, preparing the test. "They communicate with the force and they are what allows us to use the force…okay, Anakin, come here."

Anakin climbed over and Qui-Gon administered the test and waited for the results to appear. His eyes widened in amazement as he read the results.

"What is it, Master?" asked Obi-Wan. Qui-Gon didn't reply, he only gestured for him to come over and look.

"Even Master Yoda's readings aren't that high!" exclaimed Obi-Wan once he had a good look at the readings.

"Is something wrong?" asked Shmi anxiously, walking over to them.

"No, your son is very strong with the force – that's why he is able to pod-race. Being able to see into the future is one of the characteristics of a person that is force sensitive."

"Will you still take him?"

"Of course, we're more than happy to," said Qui-Gon, "but we would like to go now in order to start his training as soon as possible."

Shmi nodded and it was evident that the thought of her son leaving pained her even if he was going to lead a better life than her. "Come, Ani, let's go pack your things."

Minutes later, they were ready to leave. Anakin didn't take long to pack since he didn't have many things, being a slave. They left through the front door, little Anakin looking back at his mother.

"I love you, mom!" he called to her. He knew he was going to miss her. He had never been away from her for very long.

"I love you, too, Ani!" Shmi called back to her son, tears filling her eyes. "I'll miss you," she whispered as her son disappeared from her sight.

* * *

Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan and Anakin trudged back through the desert back to their ship. Anakin was silent, already missing his mother and the other two were submersed in their own thoughts. Suddenly, they heard the sound of a land speeder and they looked behind them. A dark robed figure sat on the vehicle, swooping towards them.

"Obi-Wan, take Anakin and go!" Qui-Gon commanded, his lightsaber jumping to his hand, lighting up green, "I'll take care of this."

The robed figure somersaulted off the vehicle, swinging his saber down to meet Qui-Gon's. The figure's hood fell back, revealing a monstrous face colored in black and red, he's head crowned by horns.

"Give me the boy," he said, holding his fighting stance.

Qui-Gon shook his head, "Who are you?"

"You don't need to know. Just give me the boy and we won't have to fight!"

Qui-Gon got angry, wanting the bastard standing in front of him to be gone. "No," he snarled, " the boy is ours!" His eyes turning a feral shade of yellow. He attacked his opponent viciously.

Meanwhile, Obi-Wan and Anakin had reached the safety of the ship. They paused at the top of the hatchway and looked back to see Qui-Gon fighting. They held their breaths as the fight unfolded in front of their eyes.

Qui-Gon lunged forward with his saber, harnessing all his hate and anger, forcing his opponent back. He swung down at him again, the horned man only just able to block him. Qui-Gon used his immense height to his advantage and pressed his weight down upon him.

"Who taught you these arts?" Qui-Gon growled. "How do you know them?"

The horned man only bared his teeth at him defiantly and used the force to push Qui-Gon away. Qui-Gon, caught by his unawares, stumbled back, defenseless for a split second. But that was enough for the horned man. He pushed his blue blade into the opening and through Qui-Gon Jinn. Qui-Gon dropped his lightsaber into the sand and clutched his stomach, a look of surprise evident on his face. He groaned and fell forward onto his knees, and then backwards onto the sand.

For a moment, Obi-Wan stood frozen in the ship, disbelieving that this _person_ had killed his beloved Master. Then, all at once, his emotions came pouring into him – the anger toward the horned monster that had killed his Master and the grief that Qui-Gon had died, that he would make such a mistake. The rage he felt was strong and near uncontrolable, drawing him to the dark side. Without thinking, he charged back down the hatchway, leaping down towards the horned entity, rage blinding all his reason, while Anakin watched in growing horror as they engaged in a furious fight.

The horned man tried uselessly to defend himself, the darkness in his opponent crowding away his light. The blinding rage in Obi-Wan drove him on. He had never felt such powerful loathing before and without taking conscious note of it, he used the dark side to make him stronger, beating down upon the _thing_ that had killed Qui-Gon. Eventually, he found his chance and he sliced his adversary across the stomach, cutting him clean in half.

He stood at his carcass, breathing heavily, trembling at the outburst of hate and loathing. Slowly, as his anger subsided and realization came to him like a blow. He knew that he had killed a man out of hate and knew that it was not the way of the Jedi. He dropped his lightsaber and brought his shaking hands up to his face, looking at them as if they were covered in blood.

"What have I done?" he managed to chock out, anguished. "What have I done?"

"Obi-Wan…" came a faint whisper from behind him. He turned around to see Qui-Gon beckoning at him. "Come here…"

Obi-Wan fell to his knees beside his Master. "Master, I have discarded everything you've taught me in a moment of anger and I have killed a man for killing you," he said shakily.

Inside, Qui-Gon felt proud of the fact that his Padawan had done this and he was glad that his death had achieved something. Now, he just had to persuade him that it was okay that he had killed. He reached up and put a hand on his shoulder. "It's…okay, Obi-Wan. I'm glad that…you avenged me," he said between painful breaths.

"But I've just broken everything the Jedi believed in! How can that be okay?"

"You have…but I trust that…you have learnt your lesson. You must…let your anger…run its course and…and after that…you will become a Jedi again," he whispered with his last breath. "Now...report this to the council - he was ...not a Jedi...but he was trained in our arts...very...well."

He had said all he wanted and in order to make sure that Obi-Wan took his words to heart, he chose at that moment to let go and die.

Obi-Wan felt Qui-Gon's energy leave him, his force signature disappearing from his senses. He let all his unshed tears fall. He would trust in the things that his Master had said with his dying breath and follow his instructions so, he felt, that he could redeem himself in the eyes of his master.


	10. The Turn

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A/N: Hey! I'm back after the most awesome trip of my life. 'Scuse this chapter if it's not up to the usual standard but I've only been back a day or two and am suffering from jetlag. So here's chapter 10! Hope you enjoy it!

**_In Coruscant…_**

The room was bare except for a little green figure that sat in the chair with his eyes closed. The early morning light cast long shadows through the giant plane of glass that made up an entire wall of Yoda's quarters showing air taxis already drifting past.

He was meditating on Qui-Gon's mission. It was a very important mission that he had undertaken, bringing the Chosen One to him. He had recently felt a surge in the light side of the force and he knew that somehow, along the line, the Jedi counterparts have revived. He had been searching for this stray soul, determined that he or she shall be destroyed or turned, but the perpetrator has proven to be very competent at hiding himself. Yoda was aware that the Chosen One must be prevented from fulfilling his prophecy or the Jedi will be no more so he had sent Qui-Gon Jinn and his Padawan to retrieve the One before the opposing Sith Lord can.

Right now, he was following their mission closely with the force. For a while, nothing happened, nothing that could tell him that they had found the One. Then, abruptly, he felt an upheaval of the light followed by an outburst of darkness.

Yoda gripped his walking stick tighter; lines appeared on his wrinkled forehead. He reasoned that the light could only come from a Sith and an outburst like that could only mean engagement in melee combat. He recognized the darkness of Qui-Gon which then, without warning, became weak, so weak that he could only _just_ sense it.

Yoda let out an angry growl as he felt the life force of one of his best Jedi Masters fade slowly away into nothingness. Then another spark of darkness, stronger and fresher than that of Qui-Gon's, infused his senses and he smiled gleefully as he realized that the darkness came from Obi-Wan. After a few minutes, the light imbued being faded away, cut off abruptly.

Yoda's eyes snapped open and a malevolent grin filled his face, pleased at this development. _Lose a strong Master but gain an even stronger one,_ he thought with wicked pleasure, _make that darkness stay in young Kenobi, I must …and exactly how to do that, I know._

He understood that Qui-Gon would've tried to make it stay there already if he had a chance to speak with his Padawan before he died. He hopped off his chair and switched on the hololink, typing in a code. A couple of seconds later, a blue hologram figure of a beautiful lady stepped into view, her long blond hair floating in behind her.

"You called for me, Master Yoda," she said in a smooth, rich voice, tucking a lock of hair behind her ears and looking prettily up at Yoda.

"It is time," said Yoda in his graveled voice, "break his heart, you must."

A malicious smile played at the curves of her lips, lighting her face up. "Of course, Master Yoda," she said.

"Know the method, you do," stated Yoda, "Make him hate, you shall."

She dropped a small curtsy as Yoda switched the hololink off.

* * *

Obi-Wan sat next to his master's body in the ship's hospital, gazing into emptiness. He still felt slightly shaken at his eruption of hate and anger but he must let it run its course, like a fever and like Qui-Gon had told him to do. He blinked and stared at his master's body. Obi-Wan knew that he should be feeling aggrieved and empty, but no matter how he tried to make himself feel, his emotions always turned back to anger. He was angry the Qui-Gon had to die, angry that he had left him alone and without a master and he hated that Yoda and the Jedi council had sent them to such a god forsaken place as Tattooine. He also resented the boy for being the reason that they were sent there, the reason that Qui-Gon was there; the reason he had died. The more he thought about it, the more he hated the boy – the "Chosen One" that is too old for training anyway. He glared over at Anakin for a second, disgusted by the boy.

Across the room, Anakin sat in the corner, looking sad and miserable, clearly missing his mother. Anakin had enough sense not to disturb Obi-Wan after seeing the expressions on his face so he stared out the window instead, dreaming about Coruscant and the Jedi Temple. He was going to become a Jedi! He still couldn't believe it and he couldn't understand why they had come for him specially especially since they normally train Padawans from infancy. He gave a small sigh and gazed at the millions of stars dotted around the darkness of space. He jumped as a large hand thumped down onto his shoulder and snapped his head around to face Obi-Wan, who now had a minute smile on his face.

"Just stay here, okay, Anakin?" he croaked in a dry, worn voice. "We're nearly at Coruscant."

Anakin just nodded in response, too nervous and excited to respond and Obi-Wan swept out the place in his brown Jedi robes.

* * *

Yoda and the rest of the Jedi council stood at the ship port where Obi-Wan and the Chosen One are due to arrive in a few minutes time. They all looked grim, obviously waiting to receive Qui-Gon's body.

The ship touched down on the platform and the Jedi all moved closer as the hatchway opened, revealing the brown robed figure of Obi-Wan, walking down the ramp with a bent head and Qui-Gon's body floating in a stretcher behind him. Behind the stretcher came a young boy with a mop of blond hair following them out and looking lost. Yoda's eyes jumped straight to the boy and could immediately sense that he was very strong with the force indeed. He also knew that the boy was nervous and scared for what they would think of him. Yoda frowned, displeased at this sign of weakness. He studied the boy for a while.

_Go, it has to,_ he thought_, then make him strong, we shall._

The small procession reached them, and all the Jedi turned to walk into the Temple, leading the way to a funeral pyre that had been prepared for Qui-Gon.

Stepping inside the Temple made young Anakin all the more excited. He looked around in awe of the tall stone arches made of a marble-like stone. Turning his head, he saw a big, lush garden filled with beautiful smelling flowers with a giant fountain in the middle that gave of the calming sound of trickling water. Looking the other way, he saw a big hall filled with younglings wielding practice sabers, fighting each other.

The procession in front of him stopped suddenly, forcing him into a hasty halt. Wondering why they had stopped, he stretched up onto the tip of his toes, trying to see above the tall Jedi Masters in front of him. All he could see was the tips of immense polished oak doors swing gradually open.

As they continued, he saw that they had entered into a vast garden that was mainly undecorated bar a few flowering plants here or there. Right in the middle was a big funeral pyre where Obi-Wan and one of the other Masters he didn't recognize were loading Qui-Gon onto. Without any words, a little green alien, whom he highly suspected was in charge, picked up a torch, light the fire pyre and step back a step or two. Tongues of fire liked at the wood, slowly at first and then faster and faster until the pyre became a blazing ball of fire, slowly consuming Qui-Gon's body within.

Obi-Wan stood close to the pyre, looking intently down at the fireball. _I won't ever fail you again,_ he thought to his master as a last word, _I promise._

* * *

Obi-Wan woke with a heavy heart the next morning. It was the first time he would not be meeting his master in the morning.

He sat up in his bed; pushing the light blue covers off his chest and swinging his legs over the side, letting his bare feet touch the plush, deep carpet that was cream. He rubbed his hands over his face tiredly while trying to suppress a yawn. He had stayed up for half the night, tossing and turning in his bed, not able to forget that Qui-Gon was _dead._ He knew that he should really try to get over it as soon as possible but he had already decided that he would allow himself a day of mourning, just to pull himself together.

He stood up and headed for the fresher, resolved to spend more than what he usually does in it – which is five minutes. He was hoping that a nice, long, hot shower would help him relax and brighten up. He stepped into the shower and turned the water on, letting it run soothingly over his skin.

As he stood, he contemplated what he should do today, trying to rake something up from his brain. He couldn't just wonder around the Temple like a lost ghost – that would be very boring. He could go talk with one or two of his friends but that seems so taxing and anyway, he didn't want to spoil their day by turning up in a bad mood. After a few moments, he finally settled on a decision and turned off the water jets. Grabbing a towel, he stepped out of the fresher, drying himself thoroughly and started to dress himself.

* * *

He arrived at the small luxurious house that was preceded by a small porch and a front garden. He walked up the porch steps and entered the house silently, closing the door shut behind him with a little click and headed out to the back door where he knew she would be, sitting on a garden bench watching all the butterflies and bees that come and go in the garden. He made his way to her maze-like garden and strolled through the lush green plants of Jada's house carrying a beautiful white flower he had brought earlier that day. Turning around the corner of a hedge, he saw her sitting there, leaning back on the garden bench dressed in a very provocative black dress. He stood there for a moment; just looking at her, letting his eyes run over every detail of her beautiful face, finding this more calming than even meditating and just as he thought it would, he was already feeling less sad. Just being in her presence was like medicine for him. He stepped lightly towards her and bent down behind her, landing a kiss on her silky white neck.

"Here, darling, I've got a snowdrop for you," he murmured into her neck, his lips brushing lightly over her skin, enjoying the goose bumps that it caused.

Jada jumped ever so slightly, the movement causing one of her dress straps to slide off her shoulder. She hurriedly caught it and slipped it back on.

"Obi-Wan!" she exclaimed, slipping elegantly off the bench and stumbling back a few steps, "What are you doing here?"

"What do you mean?" asked Obi-Wan, puzzled at her reticence.

"Go away, Obi-Wan!" she continued emotionlessly, "I don't want to see you anymore!"

At once, Obi-Wan felt his rage build up again inside him. "What do you mean?!" he repeated vehemently, forgetting the promise he had mad only yesterday.

"I mean what I say," she replied, shrinking back against the garden wall when she saw his anger.

But Obi-Wan didn't notice her fear. All he could hear were her words telling him that she didn't want to see him anymore echoing around his head. He pushed her roughly on the wall, digging his fingers into her shoulders. Jada gasped in pain and looked up at him with frightened eyes.

"Why?!" he shouted. "Why?!"

Jada's big blue eyes glazed over with tears, threatening to overspill any second. "I've fallen in love with another man," she whimpered, her lower lip shaking.

Obi-Wan became still, then his eyes turned yellow. "Who?" he growled menacingly.

Jada didn't answer. She only shook her head.

"Tell me," he commanded, stepping away from her and using the force to choke her.

Her hands flew up to her throat, scrabbling helplessly at the invisible thing around her neck.

"Tell me!"

Gasping for breath, she managed to choke out a few words, "Your best friend…"

Shocked, Obi-Wan let her go. She dropped down onto the grass, panting and wiping the tears from her face. By the time she looked up, Obi-Wan was already gone. She sat back on her haunches, threw back her head and let out a derisive laugh. Then, grinning to herself, she switched on her hololink.

"It has been done, Master," she hissed gleefully.

"Excellent! Now, see if he does it, we shall," replied the green alien on the other side. "Well acted, I must say."

* * *

Obi-Wan rushed blindly through the Temple passages, making for his best friend's quarters. The people in the passages hurried out of his way, not daring to stop him, so great was the rage on his face.

Arriving at the door, he didn't stop to open it; instead, he yanked it straight off its hinged using the force and sent it flying down the passage. He stormed into Crese's room, drawing his saber. Crese was startled out of his meditation and looked up into his best friend's terrible face.

"How dare you!" was the last thing he ever heard before Obi-Wan's light saber came slashing down at him. The last thing he ever saw was Obi-Wan's hatred-filled face staring down at him with yellow eyes. And then, all was dark.

* * *

**A/N: I swear I will slow the pace down next time :) I know this was quite a fast chapter.**


	11. The Dark Jedi

**A/N: Sorry for the delay between posts but I've been busy and exams are nearly upon me :O. Have fun reading this chapter!**

* * *

Obi-Wan stood back from the decapitated corpse of his former best friend that was slumped in an awkward position on the bed, blood pooling around it.

Gradually, just as it was the time when he killed the unknown man on Tattooine, the shock and repulsion set into his system and he started to breathe heavily. He retracted his blue saber and dropping it onto the floor. He backed away a few more steps before sitting down on the carpeted floor with a bump and locking his arms around his knees, curling himself into a ball as the dark side hinted of what could be in store for him and the glories he could achieve with the dark side, luring him with it's sweet whisperings.

He felt the strong attraction of the dark side of the force but he fought against it, willing himself not to give into it for it was not the way of the Jedi. Obi-Wan fought against the dark force, holding on desperately to the Jedi ways and his training in the Jedi philosophy but the dark side within him was strong and it eventually crowded away the light that was in him. Not being able to fight anymore, Obi-Wan Kenobi allowed the darkness to wash over him in a torrent.

Instantly, his whole demeanor changed and all his doubts of killing his best friend vanished. He suddenly felt strong and powerful and remorseless. He enjoyed the feeling, realizing that he would never be able to live with himself after what he had done and the darkness proved to be helping his situation; giving into the dark seemed an easier way out than persevering against it with the light. He stood up steadily, not shaking anymore and picked up his lightsaber from the stained carpet. He stood and regarded Crese with anger written all over his face. Perhaps he should have made him suffer in pain for a while before he killed him. It would've been so much more satisfying.

"OH MY - !" came a high pitched gasp from the doorway.

Obi-Wan swung around to the door and saw one of the cleaning ladies staring in horror at the bloody corpse on the bed.

"What is it?" asked her alarmed orange friend, coming over curiously. She shrieked as she saw the appalling sight in front of her and carried on shrieking even louder as she took in Obi-Wan's presence.

Obi-Wan stared back detachedly at the two women, and then turned his attention to the orange one. He held up a hand and curled his fingers around the air in front of him, choking her with the force. The orange woman choked in half shriek, her hands frozen to her sides with fear helplessly.

"You shouldn't have screamed," Obi-Wan told her coldly, not freeing her from his grasp. "You're irritating me."

"P-p-pleas…" she choked out, imploring him pleadingly with her electric blue eyes while her friend watched in horror and devastation. "L-let….go…"

Obi-Wan simply applied more pressure on her airway, crushing it and he observed her face as black splotches slowly spread across her face until her whole face was covered in black. Holding her there for a second longer, he finally let her stiff body fall to the floor.

"Get out!" he commanded, looking up at the other lady that was still standing there numbly looking at him.

His tone shocked her out of it. She gazed with wide eyes at him, to her friend's body, to the carcass sitting on the bed and hurriedly obeyed, scurrying out as quickly as she could without taking her cleaning equipment. Obi-Wan stepped out of the room after her, relishing air that was free from the stifling throes of death.

He began to walk away from Crese's room. A few steps down the corridor, he started to doubt what he had done. Should he have killed his friend in cold blood? Should he have given in to the dark side? What would have happened if he hadn't killed his friend? His walk slowed into a halt as his doubts threatened to overwhelm him. As it did so, he realized that even though he had given himself to the dark side of the force, he still had a portion of the light side shining brightly inside him but he also knew that his anger and hatred at both Jada and his friend would never fade. Obi-Wan gave a bark of bitter laughter and rubbed his face tiredly. How could someone have both the light and the dark sides of the force within them together? Surely it could drive someone mad, he could already feel the insanity of emotions settling in, the light making him doubt his actions, yet the dark encouraging him to harness the power of his hate and anger and use it without remorse, telling him that it would make him more powerful. Trying to distinguish between the two alone gave him a headache.

His thoughts were disturbed as he heard a pair of boots thumping down the hallway and looked over his shoulder to see, with considerable annoyance, Mace Windu skidding to a halt by the door with Yoda floating speedily with him at shoulder height.

"You did this?" questioned Master Windu as he scanned the mess in the room.

A little bit of fear was beginning to bite at Obi-Wan but he immediately dismissed that feeling of weakness. What would the Jedi do to him? Surely he would be killed for turning to the dark side. He contemplated this fact with some trepidation.

"Answer me!"

He gathered his all his emotions and his doubts and suppressed them. "Yes, I did it," he replied emotionlessly, the light inside him making him tell the truth unnecessarily.

"Mmm, come with us, you must, decide on your fate, you must and see the masters, you shall," stated Yoda grimly from his floating platform.

Obi-Wan offered no resistance as Mace Windu took his arm roughly and began to lead him to the council room while Yoda floated on the other side. Everyone stopped and stared at him as he was led through the familiar corridors. Whispering began as they speculated upon what he could have done and this irritated him no end but something that Yoda said had captured his attention. _Decide on your fate, YOU must? Does he mean I have a choice to make about what will happen to me?_

He had no time to speculate on that matter as they have arrived at the council room. He breathed a soft sigh of relief as the doors to the room opened to allow them in, the crowds thinning and floating away along with all the whispers that had been following him throughout the passages. Only the ones that enjoyed gossiping stayed to watch as he was led into the chamber.

The circle of seats where the masters usually sat were empty, leaving Obi-Wan puzzled. He had thought that all the Jedi Masters would be here to judge him. Windu led him to the center of the circle of seats while Yoda hopped off his platform and stood in front of him. Obi-Wan turned to face him, his apprehension rising.

_What will they do to me? They must not kill me! I won't let them!_

Yoda smiled sadistically, sensing the anguish in the young man.

"Well, young Obi-Wan, surprised us all, you have," he said after a few seconds of silence. Obi-Wan looked blankly at him and he continued, "Make you a Master, I shall."

Obi-Wan stood in the center of the council room, mouth half open in shock and surprise.

"But – but…" he spluttered, his mind having trouble overcoming his shock.

"What?"

"But I've just killed someone out of revenge! I've broken all your ways! Why would you allow me to become a Master in Qui-Gon's place?"

"Make you a master, we do, because powerful and dark, you are."

This stunned Obi-Wan. He looked at Yoda with wide eyes. "What do you mean? You would make me a master because I am dark?"

Yoda simply nodded and stood up to start pacing up and down in front of him. "Never been light, the Jedi have, only darkness surrounds us, ever since the dawn of time. Truly know how we became dark, we do not."

"So everything you taught me was a lie." Obi-Wan's mind almost refused to believe what was happening but he sensed that this was the truth.

"Yes. Necessary to keep up the façade, it was. Only the masters know the truth and hide it well, you will."

"And if I refuse to become a master of the dark side?" asked Obi-Wan defiantly.

"Then kill you, I must," replied Yoda with feigned sadness on his face.

"Why do they join you? How do you force the rest of the Jedi to join?" asked Obi-Wan, wanting to know everything about this intrigue.

Yoda smiled wickedly. He enjoyed the next part the most, the revealing of their secret weapon. "Come in, Jada!" he called, waving open the doors to the side room.

The gorgeous figure of the young woman walked in, her long hair swinging in behind her. She glanced at Obi-Wan spitefully, her face showing none of the love and softness he was used to seeing on her face.

The sight of her caused turmoil of mixed emotions to rise in Obi-Wan. He felt anger, of course, and also hate for breaking his heart but also sadness and, still, a little spark of love that he knew she did not return, not in the slightest.

"Use her, we do," continued Yoda, turning Obi-Wan's attention back to him. "Used her on you, we did, as to all the masters. Made you fall in love, we did, then broke you and vulnerable to the dark side of the force, we made you."

"Love is a powerful tool," he added.

He resumed his pacing, letting Obi-Wan mull over the news for a few minutes. He could sense the negative emotions emanating from him and was pleased.

"Killed your master, a Sith did. Join us, Obi-Wan and avenge your master, you shall," he told him, fuelling his bad emotions.

"I've already killed that man!" snapped Obi-Wan in a little spark of anger and irritation.

"Killed an apprentice, you did," announced Yoda. "Still need to kill the master, you have to and help you succeed, the dark side will," stated Yoda with seducing words. "Will you become a master?"

Undecided, Obi-Wan strode to the window past the empty seats and looked out at the air taxis passing by. If he joined the Dark Jedi, he _would _get his revenge, sooner or later, on the Sith Lord that had murdered Qui-Gon. He realized now why Qui-Gon had wanted him to let the anger flow through him. He understood that he wanted him to be turned to the dark side and he understood that the dark side would make more powerful than he had ever dreamed of becoming. But what would there be for him if he turned to the light side again? Of course, some part of the darkness would always stay with him but what would it be like to love and be loved again instead of having all the anger and hate bottled inside him? His mind quickly discarded that thought. _Jada has never loved me,_ he told himself firmly, _it was a set up. But it would be bliss, to feel like I did before this chain of events occured._

"Come to a decision, yet?" asked Windu gruffly from behind him.

Obi-Wan bowed his head and then turned to look at Yoda in the eye, ignoring Windu completely. "I will join you," he told him resolutely, "and I will train to become one of you." _At least for now I will, _he thought, _but I shall always keep the little bit of light that is still within me._

Yoda's face broke into a grin that conveyed no happiness and for one second, he relaxed his grip around his aura of darkness and in that second, Obi-Wan sensed how truly dark and evil he really was and he shuddered, chilled to his heart. _I will never become that twisted,_ he thought, _no matter how deep I immerse myself in the dark side, I shall always hold onto some light._

Yoda heard his last thought and he stared at Obi-Wan with cold, hard eyes. "Qui-Gon has taught you well, I see. Perhaps a little TOO well. Let go of the light, you must and forget all that you have learnt or become a true Jedi, you will not."

Obi-Wan tightened the shield around his mind. "Of course, master."

"And remember this new code, you shall:

_Peace is a lie, there is only passion._

_Through passion, I gain strength._

_Through strength, I gain power._

_Through power, I gain victory._

_Through victory, my chains are broken._

_The Force shall free me.__"_

Somewhere, across the city, Chancellor Palpatine's senses reeled from the sudden escalation of the dark side of the force. He heaved a heavy sigh as he recognised the signs that a new Dark Jedi Master has emerged.

* * *

**A/N: well writing this chapter was fun. I had to keep in mind the weird way that Yoda speaks in : ) and I hope you guys enjoyed it!**

* * *


	12. A plot for Anakin

**A/N: hey! sorry for the long delay in an update _again_ but I've been so very busy so I've made it up to you by writing an extra long chapter - double the usual amount in fact. It goes forward in time quite a few years so maybe we will be able to get back to Obi-Wan on his little lonesome by chapter 14 or 15. Have a great read!**

* * *

_The next day…_

_Is it true? What will they ask me to do now? Will I be willing to follow their orders now that I know a twisted, dark monster is issuing them? Will I even have the choice anymore?_

His hololink sounded and his mind reluctantly withdrew from its state of meditation. Obi-Wan sighed in irritation as his orderly thoughts of Yoda and his revelations returned to turmoil. He swung his legs down the edge of the bed, giving himself a long stretch and smoothing his crisp, white Jedi robes before reaching out a hand to coax the communications device towards him. He caught it in mid-air and answered it. He was not surprised when the little green figure of Yoda, now turned to a blue figure by the hologram, appeared.

"Good morning, Master Yoda," Obi-Wan greeted the master woodenly.

"To the Council Room, come. An important meeting, you have," replied the little figure, not bothering to greet his newest recruit.

"Yes, of course. I shall be along shortly."

Yoda gave him a slight nod and then terminated the call. Obi-Wan stared at the hololink for a little bit longer, wondering what Yoda could possibly want with him. _Something to do with that Skywalker kid, no doubt_. As always, when he thought about Anakin, he felt the anger and resentment at the boy boil up inside him. He heaved a heavy sigh and stood up, clipping his light saber onto his belt before striding out his quarters for the Council Room.

Obi-Wan arrived at the Council Room door, his mind still preoccupied with his many thoughts. He absentmindedly reached out and pushed the door open and walked in, thinking that there would only be Yoda inside. He stopped in the middle of the room and looked up only to see all the other Jedi Masters seated around the room staring at him with unfriendly faces. Obi-Wan gaped back at them, dumbfounded and slightly surprised that he hadn't at least sensed them. He frowned and gave his head a shake at himself. He turned to Yoda as he spoke.

"Sit down, Master Obi-Wan," ordered Yoda, gesturing at a chair across the room. "Come to decide what to do with young Skywalker, we have."

"We want you to train him," said Master Windu in his usual brash manner, getting straight to the point.

Obi-Wan's attention was immediately captured. He frowned unenthusiastically at the thoughts of training the cause of his master's death. "Make him my Padawan, you mean. Isn't he too old to be trained?"

"That he is, Master Obi-Wan. But great potential, he has, and powerful, he can become."

"I don't suppose I have a choice," stated Obi-Wan.

Yoda smiled coldly. "Train him, you shall."

Obi-Wan glanced around the room at all the other Masters waiting for him to make a decision. He knew that he had no choice anyhow; he had to train the boy whether he liked it or not and he would prefer not to get on Yoda's bad side. He turned his gaze back to Yoda.

"Okay. I'll train him," he conceded, "if you will answer my question."

He could feel the level of apprehension rise in the room and realized, too late, that one should never bargain with someone like Yoda.

"What question, you ask?" asked Yoda after a few moments delay.

"Why did the Sith want the boy?"

The air in the room stilled as Yoda narrowed his eyes at him as if deliberating something. Obi-Wan tightened the shields around his mind, not willing to let him pry into his thoughts, and stared defiantly back. The silence stretched on until, suddenly, Yoda relaxed his eyes and sat back.

The relief in the room was almost tangible. Obi-Wan could sense that they knew what would happen to someone if Yoda was displeased.

"Tell him, Master Windu."

Mace threw him a quick, questioning glance as he stood up.

"All of it."

He nodded and began to explain. "The prophecy of the Chosen One is an ancient Jedi legend. It tells of the coming of a force sensitive being, a vessel of pure force, more powerful than any Jedi or Sith in history, that would restore the balance to the force by defeating the dark side. We sent Qui-Gon to look for the Chosen One, who appears to be Anakin, so that he may never fulfill his destiny and destroy us. The Sith seem to know about the boy as well and, he was no doubt sent to get the boy so they could train him to fulfill the prophecy."

Obi-Wan looked at him in surprise. He resented the fact that so much about the Jedi has been kept from him and he would be asked, no, forced to do the same to young Skywalker.

"Train him, will you?"

"Of course."

"Good. Start this afternoon, you shall and reveal our secrets, you shall not. Dire consequences await you, if you do," said the little green figure, managing to look threatening despite his small stature.

"Teach him what we have been teaching you before you became a Master and then turn him when you think he is ready," added Master Windu.

"With Jada." Obi-Wan's voice was emotionless as he said her name. He had pondered upon her for long, replaying over and over the events that had occurred in his head. He had felt all the raw emotions for so many times that he had, somehow, almost become immune to them. His mind had buried all the lovely memories of her love in a small, obscure nook in his brain, leaving only the memories of her spiteful gaze upon him, his rage at being manipulated by Yoda and his mind had prevented those warring emotions of love and hate from emerging when her name was mentioned.

"Yes," replied Mace, "we shall use Jada."

Obi-Wan bowed his head.

"Adjourned, this meeting is," said Yoda.

The masters all rose and made their way to the door, talking about the decision that was made to train Anakin.

"Stay, Master Kenobi," commanded Yoda before Obi-Wan could get to a door.

Obi-Wan paused at the side of the door and waited for all the others to exit. When the chamber was empty, Yoda jumped off his chair and walked towards him, pulling a light saber out of his robes and handed it to Obi-Wan.

"Two light sabers, you shall have, a red and a blue. Mark you as a dark side user, the red blade shall; use it wisely."

* * *

_10 years later, during the times of Episode two…_

Obi-Wan strolled slowly down to a meeting with Yoda. He had decided that Anakin was ready to be turned to the dark side. Despite resenting him at first, Obi-Wan was impressed by the young boy's power and control over the force. He had learned very quickly and was very strong with the force and eventually his resentment towards Anakin had faded almost into nothingness. Sometimes the old feeling would arise if he thought about the Sith or about his old master but he now regarded Anakin as a brother, and would be even more of one if he were successfully turned to the dark side.

Obi-Wan frowned as he thought of the complications. It was quite obvious that Anakin is in love with the Senator from Naboo so they could not use Jada as they intended to. The Senator had a high standard of morals and values and _she_ could not be turned against him either. Whatever the case, they had to find another way to turn him.

He turned the corner into one of the training arenas at the Temple. It was a big room where they trained younglings and Padawans. The ceiling was tall, allowing them to practice as they wish and sunlight streamed through the windows on either side of the room, lighting up the stone floors of the arena. The place was empty, save for the small figure of Yoda sitting in the sunlight, eyes closed in deep meditation.

Obi-Wan stopped a few paces away from him, waiting for Yoda to acknowledge his presence. He had learnt from his mistakes he had made in his early days as a master the hard way. He had experienced the bolts of force lighting streak painfully through his body several times, burning him to his soul when he had done something wrong or unsatisfactorily. It always left him weak and in severe pain for days at a time. It was an experience he would not like to repeat.

Yoda finally opened his eyes and looked at him.

"Master Yoda," greeted Obi-Wan immediately.

"Master Kenobi," replied Yoda, climbing up from the floor. "Wished to speak with me, you did."

"Yes, I deem Anakin as ready to be turned...but there may be several complications."

Yoda thought carefully upon this matter for a few minutes. The Chosen One had certainly proved to be powerful. He could already match the Jedi Knights in their skill and he may even be able to match a few Masters as well. Turning him would ensure that he would be immersed in the dark side and once one starts down that path, it would be near impossible to return. Yes, they should turn him now, but he could see some of the complications Obi-Wan had mentioned.

"Yes, ready to be turned, he is. What complications foresee you?" he said.

"Anakin is quite obviously already in love with Senator Amidala from Naboo so we cannot use Jada as we originally planned. We cannot reveal our secrets to her so she will not be able to help us turn him. We need a new plan."

"Thought so, I did," was all Yoda said as he paced thoughtfully up and down before Obi-Wan.

Obi-Wan stood silently, allowing the Master to think without being disturbed. At last, Yoda stood still and looked up at Obi-Wan.

"Anger him, we must, and make him use the dark side of the force. Kill his mother, the solution is," said Yoda as if it was the most natural thing to do.

Obi-Wan was shocked, although he didn't let it show on his face. To break someone's heart by using Jada was one thing, but killing somebody's mother took it to another level. He knew that Anakin loved his mother dearly and that he hasn't seen her in a long time. He felt a spark of anger shoot up inside him. Who is he that would take someone's mother away so permanently? Obi-Wan let none of his thoughts show, knowing full well what the consequences would be.

"How?" was all he asked.

"Lives on Tatooine, she does. Make Tusken Raiders take her, we will and send visions to young Skywalker, we shall."

Anakin is currently on Naboo, protecting Amidala from further attempts on her life while he believed that his master was searching for the ones responsible for the assassination attempts. Obi-Wan knew fully well that the Separatists were behind these attempts but he had traveled back to Coruscant to sort out this problem of turning him. Obi-Wan did not like Yoda's solution but he had to go with it.

"Alright. I shall make it happen." Obi-Wan turned to go.

"Done well, you have, Master Kenobi," said Yoda to his back as one of his rare compliments.

"Thank you, Master Yoda," startled Obi-Wan, pleased that Yoda had given him a compliment. "I shall be heading for Tatooine, right now."

Yoda gave a dismissing nod and Obi-Wan strode away to the hangar.

_Some time later…_

Obi-Wan's ship landed on the dusty golden sands of Tatooine and he climbed out. He already knew where Shmi Skywalker Lars lived. Now he just had to find the Sand People village close to her residence and put the idea of taking her into their leader's head and wait a month before sending his Padawan visions of her death. He sighed as his booted feet sank into the sand and he pulled his robes close around him before forging forward through the sands towards the Tusken village. _This was not going to be a pleasant job._

* * *

_A month later…_

19-year-old Anakin Skywalker tossed in his sleep. He saw the picture of his mother dying in his arms, followed by one of a Tusken Raider in Tatooine.

"No!" he said in his sleep, anguished. "No, mother, don't die!"

He opened his eyes wide and shot up from bed, gasping. His sheets were knotted by tossing and turning and his body was slick with sweat. He took a deep breath and put his head into his hands. This was the third night in a row that he had dreamed of his mother dying in his arms on Tatooine. He knew that she was in danger and he desperately wanted to save her but his orders were to stay with Padme and protect her. He clenched his fists in frustration. What should he do? Leave his own mother to die? No, he was going to go to Tatooine today and he didn't care that he was going to be disobeying orders.

He stood up and put a robe on, tying is loosely around his waist. He went outside to the balcony, letting the cool breeze of Naboo wash over him, cooling him down. He stared out at the beautiful scenery of Naboo, trying to find some calm.

"Ani? Is everything alright?" asked Padme's soft voice from behind him. "I heard you shouting."

Anakin turned around and looked at her angel-face. "No," he said, shaking his head, "I've had that dream about my mother again, the one where she dies."

She came to stand beside him and gazed out over the view of lush greenness with him.

"I'm going to Tatooine, Padme. I'm going to find her."

Padme looked at him and tentatively laid her hands on his. "Then I'm coming with you, Ani," she said loyally.

* * *

Anakin and Padme arrived at the little house that stood out in the flat sands of Tatooine.

They had arrived on Tatooine a while ago and had made their way through the derelict outskirts of the city to the market place. Many memories were revived as Anakin took the familiar route to Watto's junk shop where he thought he would find his mother. Watto, however, told him that he had sold his mother to another man who had then freed her and made her his wife and had given him directions to her new residence. By the time they had found suitable land speeders to take them there, Padme's fair skin was burning a bright red.

They parked their bikes close to the house and hopped off. For a moment, Anakin gazed at the house apprehensively. What if his mother _was_ dead?

"Anakin, come on," said Padme next to him, interrupting his thoughts before they could get any worse. "I want to meet your mother."

They walked up to the door, side by side, and he rapped his knuckles on the door. A moment later, a middle aged man cracked the door open slightly. Anakin could see that he was holding a blaster behind the door in case he needed it.

"May I help you?" he asked rather brusquely.

"I'm Anakin Skywalker," he introduced himself, "I've come here to look for my mother."

The man stared at him for a moment longer and then opened the door fully.

"I'm Cliegg Lars," he said, holding out his hand. "I guess I'm your step-father, then. Come on in."

He stood back and they entered the cool interior of the house. Padme smiled with relief as the heat on her back was replaced with the cool air on in the house.

"I'm Padme," she said to Cliegg. "I'm here with Anakin to help him find his mother."

An uncomfortable look passed across Cliegg's face at the mention of Shmi and Anakin sensed that something was wrong. He frowned.

"Is my mother here?" he asked.

Cliegg was silent for a moment and his gaze did not meet Anakin's as he answered, "No."

A feeling of anxiousness rose inside Anakin and his brows lowered even more. "Where is she? Why isn't she with you?"

Cliegg shifted from foot to foot, clearly not comfortable with his questions. "Listen, I did not want it to come to this. Shmi was out working in the moisture farm when a group of Tusken Raiders came and took her."

Anakin's eyes grew wide with alarm; this was not a good sign. "When was this? How long ago did this happen?" he asked urgently.

His step-father looked at him with sorrow in his eyes. "A month ago. They just came out of nowhere and took her." His voice broke slightly at the last word.

"I'm going to find her," announced Anakin. His expression was one of angry determination. "I will find her and bring her back."

"Ani, don't be unreasonable – "started Padme anxiously.

"Son, they will have her kept at their village – "began Cliegg.

"I am going to find her!" said Anakin finally, cutting them both off in mid-sentence. "And I'll go alone."

"But she may be dead, Anakin!" said Cliegg in a raised voice in one last attempt to stop him. "You may not be able to find her!"

Anakin whirled around from the door and glared at him. "She is _not_ dead!" he hissed, his anger making him deaf to all reason. He hurled himself out the door and back onto his speeder, kicking up a sheet of sand as he sped off into the distance.

Padme turned to Cliegg, distress clear on her face. "I need to go after him," she stressed, turning to stare at Anakin's disappearing figure.

"No," he stated stubbornly. "He can take care of himself but I won't risk you going in after him."

"But you don't understand! He has a quick temper and I don't know what he will do if Shmi _is _dead."

"Then _I_ will go after him," countered Cliegg, clearly unwilling to let her go into the inhospitable sands by herself.

"No," she said finally in her senatorial voice. "I will go after him. He will listen to me more than you."

He struggled with himself for a moment, not willing to let her go but also seeing the truth in her words. Anakin doesn't know him as well as he knows Padme and is surely happier to listen to her that to him.

"All right, then," he said at last, "but take this blaster with you just in case."

The young woman nodded gratefully and took the gun from his hands.

"Thank you," she said simply and then disappeared out the door after him.

* * *

It was getting dark when Anakin began to creep through the village of huts. Although he hadn't been close to his mother for ten years, but his sense of her in the force was still very strong, so instead of peeking through every tent, he let the force guide him through. Eventually, he reached a tent on the very end of the village. He knew that his mother was inside but he also knew that something was wrong. Her life force is not as strong as it should be, not as strong as it was all those years before when she was still a slave. He pushed the flap of the tepee apart and let out a low gasp as he saw his mother, tied to a pole and bleeding.

"Mother!" he said in a low voice as he knelt down to untie her. "Mother! Wake up."

Shmi's eyelids fluttered and she groaned.

"Ani? Is that you?" she whispered hoarsely.

"Yes, mother, it's me," answered Anakin, cradling her bleeding head in his arms

"I knew you'd come back some day, Ani," she said, reaching up to touch his face.

He stared helplessly down at his mom as he felt her life force slip away, frustration filling him.

"No, mom, don't die," he said, his voice chocked by tears of sadness and frustration. "Don't die...please."

She smiled up at him. "I'm happy now, Anakin, let me go," she told him weakly, reaching the end of her strength. "I love you, Ani."

With that, her last breath escaped her lips in a soft gush and Anakin felt her signature in the force disappear. Tears rolled down in his face as he realized that despite his powers in the force and the visions he had been given, he had been totally helpless to save her. His breath began to up shallowly as rage replaced his sadness and frustration. _Why couldn't he save her? He should have able to! He knew he was one of the strongest with the force so why couldn't he?_ The rage he felt in him boiled up at these thoughts and they turned to thoughts of revenge.

In a fit of anger, he pulled his light saber from his belt and ignited it. He stalked out of the tent and found that a few Sand People were already waiting for him. Without thinking, he simply slew the closest of the Raiders before he could react and then spun around, slicing through them all in one swing. More came out of their tents, awoken by the noise but their lives were immediately ended by a flash of blue.

Before long, the air was thick with the stench of burnt hair and flesh and with the odor of the coppery blood of the Tusken Raiders. Anakin continued his onslaught and was about to kill another Raider when he heard a voice through the anger that clouded his mind. _Padme's voice._

"Anakin stop!" she screamed at him. "Please stop this!"

At once he stopped, only killing the one of them in defense. Anakin turned to see Padme holding a blaster at her side and standing on the bloody ground, tears streaming down her face like little rivulets.

He felt his anger subside as he saw the horrified expression on her face. He switched off his blade and gazed around at the chaos he had created in a daze. _Did I do that? Did I kill all these people?_ Anakin knew what had happened and he regretted it. He knew that his mind had been clouded by the dark side which then made him do what he did. _How could he, after all those years of Jedi training succumb so easily to the dark side?_ He felt disgusted with himself as he came back to his senses.

"Anakin…are you back?" asked a tentative Padme, touching his arm.

"My mother is dead," he said disbelievingly, staring into her deep, brown eyes.

"I know, Ani," she whispered, her eyes brimming with tears. "But it was her time to die, even though it was not pleasant a pleasant death. She died with a smile on her face, Ani, she was happy to see you."

At her words, Anakin gave in to the intense grief he felt. Padme wrapped her arms around him comfortingly as he sobbed silently into her shoulder.

* * *

Far away in Coruscant, Yoda threw down his walking stick in anger. He had felt the anger escalate in Anakin but then abate abruptly. Now he had to kill the ex-senator of Naboo in order to turn him to the dark side and it is bound to raise many questions. But he had seen flashes of the future and he knew that, in a few years, he could kill her without any suspicion at all. He would wait until the time is right, albeit impatiently.

* * *

**A/N: okay, I know that this was a very fast chapter so sorry about that. I got through a lot of things in this chapter though. Happy reading?**


	13. Will You Marry Me?

**A/N: Okay, here's chapter 13. Exams are starting soon so I won't have much time to write for about two weeks but I'll try.**

* * *

_The next day…_

The Lars family, along with Anakin and Padme, carried Shmi's body out into the light of the rising sun. She lay on the stretcher wearing a pure white gown with her hands neatly folded over her stomach. The blood and grime on her body had been cleaned off by Anakin and Cliegg the previous night and she was looking peaceful and wise as she always did when she was alive. She even had a small smile on her face, as if she was telling them that she was happy.

The small procession took her a just a few meters from the house and laid her down on the sandy floor, next to the grave that had been prepared for her. They all stood around her silently without a sound, not even saying their last words to her, just letting each other grieve for her in their own way.

Anakin looked down at the familiar face of his mother, the face that had raised him for only nine years but a face that he loved dearly and never forgot. His thoughts went to his childhood, where he was happy even though he was a slave boy; he always had his mom to look after him. He remembered the day that Qui-Gon had found him and taken him away to the Jedi Temple and then his memories jumped to the ones from the previous night. He recalled his sadness and anger at the Tusken Raiders for killing her but he also felt betrayed by the Jedi. _They_ had told him that he was powerful, that he could do anything once he reached his full potential. Had they lied to him? He could not even save his own mother with his powers. It was at that moment, he realized, that all reason had fled from him leaving him to his angry and misled thoughts. He had felt the strong pull of the dark side and had succumbed to it, killing almost all the Tusken Raiders in the camp and would've killed more if it had not been for Padme.

Anakin could feel that rage building up in his heart again at these memories and he began to hear the whispers of the dark side but he turned the offers of power and strength down firmly. He would _not_ fall to the dark side again. Once was enough. He simply refused to let it take over his senses.

Anakin felt a small, slender hand touch his arm and turned his eyes to the beautiful senator standing at his side. Her presence was always very soothing; he always felt at ease when he was close to her. Anakin loved her in spite of the strict rules the Jedi had when it came to emotional attachments and he smiled at the thought of their secret kiss at the Lake House in Naboo. Padme turned her head slightly to look at him and he stared back, unabashed and only making his gaze all the more intense. She raised her eyebrows at him with a serious expression on her face that said "_not now_".

Anakin sobered and turned his attention back to his mother. He looked down at her smiling face and in an instant, he felt all the anger he felt about her death purged from his heart. It felt as if a heavy weight had evaporated from his heart which left him feeling light although he still felt a stinging sense of grief. He sighed and shook his head. _The force really works in strange ways. First it draws me to the dark side and then it purges the darkness from my soul._

He looked up at Cliegg, whose eyes held a tender sadness just as it had last night when they cleaned her body of the blood. Then, as if he had sensed his gaze, he lifted his eyes to meet his and they both stepped forward in a silent agreement and lifted Shmi into the grave. They set her down gently and carefully, brushing away little grains of sand as they fell onto her gown.

They all buried her then, drizzling shovels of sand and soil gently down onto her until the hole was filled. Anakin pulled out a little plaque set on a large stone and set it down on the sand as Shmi's headstone.

* * *

Anakin fiddled around with the electrical device in his hands, his fingers working nimbly to fix it. It was now midday outside and the two suns of Tatooine made it too hot for his liking so he was in the basement of his step-father's house, fixing some of the broken equipment in it.

"Ani?" asked Padme, walking down the stairs to stand next to him. "How're you feeling?"

He set the device down on the work table with a smile.

"Great, now that you're here," he answered with a slightly teasing tone in his voice.

"So…you're not angry about Shmi's death anymore."

Anakin's smile wavered a bit but stayed there. He picked up the object that he was fixing and started to work on it again and he shook his head slowly. "No."

Padme smiled a small smile; she could tell that he was still sad. "Would you like to stay here a little longer before we go back to Naboo?"

"Just…today. We can go tomorrow."

She nodded understandingly and gave his hands a little pat.

"Lunch will be ready soon, if you want to eat," she told him and then walked back towards the stairs.

"Padme."

She paused in mid-step. She could tell that his tone of voice wasn't quite right; it seemed to be nervous.

"Yes, Ani?" she said, turning around.

Anakin took two giant steps toward her and indeed, he seemed to be troubled. She frowned at this sudden change worriedly.

He gave a small, nervous chuckle. "Don't look at me like that, Padme, you're making me nervous."

_Nervous for what?_ she thought, perplexed. "What is it?"

She heard him take a deep breath and he stepped even closer to her so that there was barely an inch in between them. He took hold of her hands. She felt her heart flutter as she stared at his sprightly blue eyes. He had _always_ been handsome but that was not what she loved him for, though his features certainly came as a bonus. She loved him for the way he is and she knew that he loved her, too. She had often caught him looking at her unabashedly but she had always turned his affections away because of the strict Jedi Code that he had to follow but this...this was different. They had never been this close other than that time when he had kissed her. She saw his muscled chest rise in another breath as he prepared to tell her whatever was making him so nervous.

But what he said next was so totally unexpected that it left her absolutely speechless for at least a minute.

"Padme," he said, his voice coming out strong just like it always does. "Will you marry me?"

She stared at him, dumbfounded. He stared back into hers intensely, boring into her eyes.

Marry him? Of course she will marry him! She would have done so long ago if it had not been for the Jedi and their Codes. But now that _he _asked_ her_, can she really refuse him?

_No,_ she realized, she would not see his heart being broken again with her being the cause of it. But what of the Jedi?

"What about the Jedi, Anakin?" she whispered, finally finding her voice.

Anakin's grip tightened around her hands. "They will never have to know, Padme. We can marry in secret on Naboo."

Padme struggled with herself for a moment. She knew that she _shouldn't_ marry a Jedi but what if they never found out? Would it be worth it?

_Yes,_ she decided, _it would be worth anything in the world._

"Padme?" asked Anakin, whose eyes were now staring into hers anxiously. "I'll understand if you don't want to – "

She quickly put a finger to his lips, silencing him.

"No, Anakin, I will marry you."

Far away in Coruscant, Yoda smiled coldly with a distinct satisfaction as he felt the first phase of his plan come to life. Now he just needs to wait…

* * *

_3 years later…_

"Master Kenobi," said Yoda icily as Obi-Wan entered his quarters. "Sit down."

The doors closed with a soft hiss behind him and he sat down on the low chair.

"Master Yoda, you sent for me."

"Good news I have for you," began Yoda, "found another way to turn your wayward Padawan, I have."

"Indeed. What is it?" asked Obi-Wan, his interest aroused.

"In love with Amidala, he is; pregnant she is with his child."

Obi-Wan wasn't surprised. It was quite _obvious_ that the Senator is in her third trimester of pregnancy and he had guessed quite accurately that Anakin was the father. He hadn't been told of any plans, though and a little seed of suspicion began to sprout.

"What are your plans for them, Master?" he asked.

"Send him visions of his love dying, you will and kill her during childbirth, we must. Anger him greatly, it will and his anger will be his path to the Dark side."

Obi-Wan thought over this plan carefully. He didn't really care for the Senator so he didn't really care if she died in the process of turning Anakin to the dark side. She had heavily opposed the creation of a Republican Army – clones which Yoda had ordered from Kamino. Obi-Wan didn't quite know how the clones fitted into Yoda's grand plan but he did know that when the time came, they would only respond to his orders. But…

"Master, do you think this will work after what happened with his mother?"

"Yes. Guide him to the Dark side this time, we shall."

* * *

Anakin strode around his room, frustrated and very much annoyed. He had just come from one of his meetings with the Masters. _Why do they keep denying him the title of Master?_ Not even Obi-Wan supported him in this matter, saying that "the Masters will make you a Master when they see fit". Is he not good enough to become a Master? He could match more than a few of the Masters in combat and skills already, for Maker's sake! He sat down on his bed with a huff and pummeled his pillow, making a dent in it.

He had become close friends with the Chancellor since meeting him three years ago. The Chancellor seemed to realize his potential and even supported him when it came to this matter and he often gave him good advice.

He sighed and lay back on the bed. Perhaps he should be a little more patient and prove to the Jedi that they should make him a Master. It was why he left his mom on Tatooine all those years ago for, after all. He closed his eyes and used a meditation technique to calm his mind so he could sleep.

_Padme lay on a bed, crying and screaming as she pushed the baby out. Then she lay back on the bed, gasping for breadth. After a few minutes, she closed her eyes, seeming to fall asleep but she never woke up again. He knew that she had died._

Anakin woke up with a gasp. He could've passed it off as a dream but he knew perfectly well that it was not a dream – it was a vision, just like the ones he had had before his mother died. _She can't die! This is not her time!_ Anakin knew that he should seek someone's help but whose? His thoughts immediately jumped to Obi-Wan but he couldn't tell _him_. It wouldn't do for the Jedi to find out about his attachments at all. His mind sorted through all the force sensitive individuals he knew that might be able to help him as he hurriedly tossed on his robes. None of the Jedi would do but who else was there? The Chancellor popped into his mind. Anakin had sensed that the Chancellor was force sensitive the first day he met him. He knew that the Chancellor was aware of his force potential and he could even say that Chancellor Palpatine knew how to _use_ the force but he couldn't be sure. He would be the ideal person to go for help.

Coming to a decision, he clipped his light saber onto his belt and ran out of his room.

* * *

Chancellor Palpatine sat in his office, buried deep in the paperwork that cluttered his mahogany coloured desk. His office was ambiently lit, the light throwing some colour onto the otherwise white walls. He found that this type of lighting lent to his better concentration that was required when working on endless data pads of paperwork.

Of all his years serving at the senate, he had never known so much paperwork. It had increased at about two fold when he had been elected Chancellor. It put him in a position that held a lot of power but which left him very little time to meditate upon more important matters such as the Chosen One – Anakin Skywalker. He had sent an apprentice, many years ago, to claim the boy but once again, the Jedi had triumphed.

Suddenly, a loud knock disturbed his state of mind. He let out a small puff of air in irritation. He was so close to finishing his work but none the less, he had to answer the door. Palpatine scooted his chair back and stood up, letting his long black cloak fall its length to his ankles and strode over to the door, hoping to resolve this matter quickly so he could complete the data pads sitting on his desktop. He opened the door.

"Anakin! What a pleasant surprise," he said in genuine surprise.

He could sense that the young man standing in front of him was very much troubled. He stood aside and gestured for him to enter.

"What brings you here this early in the morning?" he asked, clicking the door shut and following Anakin back into his office.

Palpatine returned behind the desk and began to clear some space between the data pads.

"Take a seat," he offered when Anakin didn't answer.

Anakin sat down on the edge of the chair, his face a picture of anxiety.

"So, Anakin, do you want to tell me what is troubling you so?"

He nodded and started to pace around in the small room.

"I had a dream this morning…not a dream, really, more of a vision, like the ones I had before my mother died," began Anakin.

Palpatine knew that he was one of the few that knew about his visions. He had gained Anakin's trust over the years by offering his support where the Jedi did not and Anakin had even told him about his relationship with Padme. He now had a chance of keeping the Chosen One on the light side; more of a chance to keep him from being manipulated into the dark side by the Jedi.

He sat down and leaned back in his chair, listening attentively. "Yes?" he prompted.

"I…I saw Padme…I saw her die in childbirth," Anakin whispered in a trapped voice, looking at him with aggravated eyes. "How can she die so young, Chancellor?"

Palpatine instantly suspected Jedi manipulation. Slowly, he reached deep into the force and touched upon the future. A million flashes of pictures flashed past his mind as he let the force guide him to the relevant images.

_Anakin went to Obi-Wan for help…he presented his problem to the Council…Yoda encouraging him and guiding him to the dark side…Anakin with yellow eyes force choking Padme which then leads to her death in childbirth – _

another series of images flashed through his mind, an alternate route to the darkness in the previous possible future –

_he saw himself telling Anakin that the visions were false, that the Jedi were dark…Anakin refused to believe him and he sends him to Mustafar to find evidence…Anakin finding the evidence, a heavy sense of betrayal followed…Obi-Wan and Anakin fighting…and then Padme giving birth and waking up soon after – _

Palpatine saw enough to know what to do to keep Anakin from the dark side. Of course the future was always changing but it was the least he could do to make sure Anakin's future was something like the one he saw in his own visions.

"Your visions are false, Anakin," he told him carefully.

"What do you mean?" he asked, stopping in mid-stride and looking at him with hopefull eyes.

Palpatine leaned forward in his chair. "The Jedi are not what you think they are, Anakin, they are vessels of the Dark Side – "

"No!" interrupted Anakin in a voice full of disbelief. "It can't be! They teach us about the light!"

"That is an illusion, Anakin. Only the Jedi Masters are with the dark side, which is why they won't let you become a Master. You are the fabled Chosen One of the Sith and the Jedi who will bring balance to the force and this is why they trained you when you were too old. They want to turn you to the dark side – your mother's death and the visions you are receiving now are just a plot to turn you so you would not fulfill the prophecy and bring balance to the force."

"How do you know all this?" asked Anakin suspiciously.

Palpatine stood up. "I am Darth Sidious," he announced, "the very Sith Lord the Jedi were looking for. I have studied the Jedi for a long time, although the dark side clouds most of what I see now."

Anakin frowned and his hand strayed to his light saber. "_You_ are the Sith Lord?"

"The Sith are not what the Jedi had you believe we are," he said, not quite answering his question.

"Then what are you?" he asked as he shifted his stance in readiness for a fight.

"We are one with the light."

Anakin brought his light saber up and switched it on, casting a blue hue onto the walls. He had known that Palpatine was force sensitive but he would never have guessed that he was a _Sith_ Lord. His mind went through everything that the Jedi had told him about the Sith - that they were the dark counterparts of the Jedi but he could sense no deceit or darkness in the Chancellor. Nothing made any sense to him.

"How do I know that you're telling the truth?" he asked with less heat in his voice.

Palpatine sighed. He could sense that his revelations were taking a great toll on Anakin who had come to him for help but received more problems instead.

"Padme will not die, I promise you that. If you are looking for proof of what I have told you, go to Mustafar. You will find what you are looking for there."

A tense silence followed. Palpatine could sense the struggle in Anakin. One part of him was disbelieving, yet another part wanted it to be true so that Padme would not die.

Eventually, Anakin came to a decision. Palpatine offered him a path where Padme wouldn't die so he chose to believe him. If what the Chancellor had told him about the Jedi were true, then he would gladly become a Sith. He hoped it would not come to that. He switched his light saber off and relaxed his stance.

"Okay, I shall go to Mustafar."

* * *

**A/N: Thanks to everyone who has stuck with this story and reviewed - you give me one more reason to write nice chapters. :)**


	14. Gone to Mustafar, He Has

**A/N: well, here's chapter 14 and we're getting close to being back in the present. This chapter retells the things that had happened in the first 3 or 4 chapters from Obi-Wan's view. Have fun!**

* * *

Padme stared worriedly out the large window in her residence, twisting a long strand of soft brown hair in between her fingers. Anakin had came to her early that morning and had told her that he would be going to Mustafar to "sort some things out". She had instantly known that something was wrong and her intuitions were proven to be true when Anakin asked her not to tell the Jedi about his going away – not even Obi-Wan, he had said.

3PO walked up to her, holding his arms out and taking small, stiff steps as he always does.

"Is there anything I can do, Mistress?" the golden protocol droid asked politely.

She shook her head at him. "No, 3PO, you can get some rest now," she heard herself say to the droid, her mind still concerned about Anakin.

She was puzzled at his request not to tell Obi-Wan about where he was. She knew that he trusted and loved his Master very much and Obi-Wan trusted and loved him like a son in turn. She couldn't imagine what had happened to shake that bond between them. She knew she trusted Obi-Wan, whom she had become to know quite well and considered him to be a father figure – kind, gentle, loving and steadfast in the Jedi ways.

"Master Obi-Wan to see you, my lady," announced 3PO from behind her as if on cue, showing the Jedi Master in. "He insisted that it was quite important."

Padme turned to see the brown robed Jedi walking in behind the droid. As usual, Obi-Wan gave her a little bow before starting.

"Sorry to disturb you, Padme, but there is something that I need to discuss with you," he said gravely. The look on his face was one of controlled emotion and it alarmed Padme greatly.

"What is it?" she urged, gesturing for him to sit down.

"It's Anakin," began Obi-Wan sadly.

Padme's pale skin blanched visibly. "What's wrong?" she demanded. "Has something happened to him?"

He stood up and took a few agitated steps toward the window, standing almost exactly where Padme had stood just moments ago.

"He's turned to the dark side, Padme," he told her quietly, rubbing his bearded chin with a hand.

"No! Not, Ani! He wouldn't!" cried Padme, tears springing to her eyes at such a terrible accusation. She couldn't believe what she had just heard; her mind almost could not comprehend it.

"I'm sorry, but it's true. We've all sensed him and there's an aura of darkness around him that is new or had been hidden," Obi-Wan murmured, turning to her. "I need to know where he has gone."

She shook her head. She knew what the Jedi were expected to do when catching a Dark Jedi and she couldn't let Obi-Wan do that. She had every faith in Anakin that he still has goodness in him – given that he has turned, of course.

"I can't," she whispered, turning away from his gaze.

Obi-Wan returned to his seat opposite her. "Padme, I need to know this; it's for his own good and for the good of the Em – Republic."

Padme looked back at him distractedly – too distracted to hear his little blunder.

"I can't," she repeated in a stronger voice adamantly. "You're going to kill him aren't you?"

Obi-Wan was already shaking his head half way through her question. "I'm going to try turn him back to the light first," he said, "but if I cannot do that, then…"

He trailed off, preferring not to think of those thoughts.

"Please, tell me where he is so I can find him," he finished.

Padme bit her lip, torn between the two possibilities. She could keep Anakin safe by not telling Obi-Wan where he is but she would rob Anakin of the chance of returning to the light if he was dark. The two thoughts warred in her mind but eventually the one obtained victory. She bowed her head and .

"He's gone to Mustafar," she whispered, looking at her hands that were clenched on her lap.

"Thank you," he said softly, rising and giving her a pat on the shoulder before he walked out the door.

They closed after him. "Oh, Ani, what have you done?" she asked before finally letting the tears of worry and anguish that were threatening to overwhelm her fall. Her body shook as she put her head into her hands and wept in her final, frail days of pregnancy.

* * *

Obi-Wan let his fatherly façade slip off his face as he entered the hold of his small spacecraft. It was replaced with a slightly twisted smile with a frown mixed in on his forehead. Though having to keep the façade on for so long was annoying, he had enjoyed bringing anguish and grief to the Senator.

_Too bad he couldn't make her suffer more,_ he reflected_, it would have been so much more fun if he had._

It was quite amusing to see that she had been manipulated so easily because of his stupid Padawan, really. A few white lies and _voila_, out came his location. His mind turned to more serious matters as he thought of his Padawan, who had greatly disappointed him.

Master Yoda had contacted him that morning. Both of them had sensed something go wrong with their plans. What Yoda told him angered Obi-Wan greatly.

_Influenced by the Sith Lord, he is,_ Yoda had told him that morning, banging his gimmer stick on the floor irritably as he did so. _Sense it through the force, I do!_

How could Anakin become influenced by a _Sith_? Influenced meant that Anakin knew exactly who it was. Had Yoda used the word _manipulated_, he would've reasoned that Anakin didn't know what was manipulating him. No matter, he would force the truth from his Padawan when he finds him on Mustafar.

Obi-Wan reached into his robe pockets and drew out a comm. link. He punched in a few numbers and only had to wait a second before the Jedi Grand Master appeared as a hologram.

"News you have for me, Master Obi-Wan," he stated.

"Yes, Master, I do. Anakin has gone to Mustafar."

Yoda's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Mustafar, you say?"

Obi-Wan nodded and Yoda's eyes narrowed to slits.

"Find our plans, He _must_ not!" yelled Yoda with his croaky voice, a demented glint entering his eyes. "Stop him, you will! Rule my Empire, I shall!"

He made a flinging motion with his arms and the last thing Obi-Wan saw something that resembled a vase flying towards the hololink before the call terminated.

Obi-Wan raised his eyebrows to himself, amused. He had never seen Yoda so angry as to lose control. He chuckled to himself, replaying the conversation he just had over in his head. His chuckle ended in a choke as he peered through the windshield to see the pregnant Senator Amidala running towards his craft with a grimly determined look on her face followed by the annoying protocol droid and the R2 unit who argued endlessly. He quickly put his façade back on his face and sat down on the pilot's seat, pretending to look sad. He let her run closer before raising his head and pretending to notice her and then swiveled his seat around and opened the door.

"Master Kenobi!" panted Padme, coming to a stop in front of him. "I'm so glad I caught you."

"What is it?" he asked in a kind tone.

"I'm coming with you to Mustafar."

_What?! No! _"That wouldn't be wise, my lady - ," he began, trying to dissuade her.

"No, Obi-Wan," she said, dropping the formalities of titles as she cut him off. "I'm coming. I need to come."

"There is no space for two people on my craft, Padme," said Obi-Wan, hoping that it would put her off the trip. He did _not_ want to keep this persona of the fake Obi-Wan for the entire trip to Mustafar. It also meant that he couldn't take care of his business if she was around.

"Which is why we're taking my ship," she said in triumph.

Obi-Wan bit back a curse. This darned, accursed woman! Instead, he smiled without batting and eyelid. "Let us go then."

* * *

The ship landed on the volcanic planet of Mustafar.

Obi-Wan had managed to avoid Padme for most of the trip, faking anxiety over his Padawan and using the excuse of needing to meditate. Of course, he had talked to her every now and again in case she thought he was avoiding her. Now he watched from the hatchway, hidden from Anakin's view by the shadows. He could sense a great anguish from his Padawan.

He got a little bored watching the two lovebirds flaff around. His thoughts started to wander but soon something Anakin said brought his attention back to the present situation.

"It's the Jedi – they're…"

_Oh Force! He's found out._ Obi-Wan sighed. He knew what was expected of him so he force leaped high over the both of them (neither noticing as they only had eyes for each other) and landed silently behind Anakin, gathering all the hate and anger and resentment he had harbored over his years as a Jedi Master – his hatred of Yoda, who had manipulated him mercilessly and heartlessly, his resentment towards Jada who had broken his heart and turned him to the dark side, anger at his Padawan for not turning and a million other incidents of dark memories he had since his childhood that caused his blood to boil. He felt the soothing coldness of the dark side fill him and felt its power crackle inside him. His eyes turned a sickly shade of yellow.

"…take over the – "

Obi-Wan activated his red light saber and swung it down at Anakin, cutting him off in mid-sentence. He saw the confusion in his face and the shock was tantalizing as Anakin saw who it was.

_You don't recognize me like this, do you, Padawan? You weren't even able to sense me – not surprising, since you are a servant of the light side_, taunted Obi-Wan silently in his head.

"Obi-Wan!" he cried out.

"You shouldn't have come here, Anakin!" he half-shouted.

_It's such a pity that I have to kill him. He would have made a powerful ally on the dark side,_ he thought. Then the little bit of light that he had vowed to keep with him all those years ago somehow fought through the darkness and he realized that he was going to kill someone that he loved like a son.

"You were like my brother, Anakin," he heard himself say in a soft tone before he could suppress it, "but you have found out too much…I have to kill you."

The dark side began to warp his feelings and reasoning. He now felt betrayed by his Padawan – he felt that Anakin had failed him when he hadn't turned to the dark side.

"You should have stayed in Coruscant!" he shouted at him and force-pushed Padme backwards so she would stay out of the fight.

His foolish Padawan turned to her instead of fighting him. He could not understand why.

"Padme! Are you hurt?"

That question frustrated Obi-Wan even more and he swung his saber back to deliver a powerful blow to Anakin.

"Anakin, be careful!" cried Padme, accursedly causing Anakin to turn around and block his blow which lead to another strike…and another. Soon it morphed into a fully fledged war between Master and Padawan, light and dark, Jedi and Sith. They moved as they fought and eventually they ended up in a control room. Anakin flipped backwards onto a table that was in his way; Obi-Wan jumped on after him but his Padawan leapt onto the control panels, destroying them with his light saber blade.

_What is he thinking?_ thought Obi-Wan in alarm as sirens began to wail. _He's going to destroy us all!_

He curled his fingers around the air in front of him and force choked Anakin as he turned around but Anakin surprised him as he also felt something pressing back on his windpipe. Not quite force choking – a light sided sentient was not likely to have learnt such a thing as to slowly crushing one's windpipe – but rather using a force-shove to almost gently push against his windpipe, closing off the oxygen flow to his brain. Obi-Wan frowned and sent a chair flying towards Anakin's head with his free hand, knocking him out cold.

Panting from exertion from the fight and rubbing his neck gingerly, he peered out the window to see if the wailing sirens meant anything. His eyes widened in alarm as he saw the levels of the lava rising rapidly and he turned back to the prone figure lying on the floor. For a brief moment, he considered saving the young man but he decided not to as he remembered that Anakin had turned into a Sith – the mortal enemies of the Jedi. Obi-Wan shook his head sadly at the waste and turned around to make his way back to the ship, leaving Anakin to the mercy of the planet.

* * *

It was only once he was well on his way to Coruscant that Obi-Wan realized he hadn't done what Yoda had sent him there to do, which was to find their plans or stop Anakin from finding them. Well, he had completely forgotten about _that_ during the fierce fight with his ex-Padawan and he hadn't killed him to silence him _and_ he did not find, or even look for, the plans. His meeting with Yoda was not going to be pleasant at all. Obi-Wan growled at the thought of what was to come.

* * *

He thrashed around and almost screamed in agony as the force lightning tore through his soul, setting his entire being on fire. After a brief respite as he cringed on the floor and letting seething rage and hate flow through him freely so that Yoda could sense it, it tore through him again.

"Killed him, you have not!" screamed the demented green thing in front of him that was sending the near unbearable pain through him. "Found my plans, you have not!"

Yoda emphasized the last word with an extra-long bolt of lightning at his victim. Kenobi had failed him, and he did not accept failure kindly.

"I'm sorry, Master," gasped Obi-Wan from the floor, the excruciating pain still lingering in his essence.

Yoda was silent for a moment, seeming to accept his apology – for a while at least. He hobbled away from the disappointment on the floor, bending down to pick up his stick as he did so. While the Chosen One would be a great asset to the dark side, he didn't give the damn if he was killed and dead.

"The Sith Lord, Chancellor Palpatine is," announced Yoda, an abrupt change in the topic. "Found that out when you were gone, I did, through following security holotapes of your Padawan."

Obi-Wan growled in tried to get up but wincing as his muscled reminded him of the torture he had just been through. He settled for sitting on his knees. While it didn't make him taller than Yoda as standing would have done, it at least made him the same height as the sinister little green monster.

"Find your Padawan you must for with the Sith he will be," continued Yoda with a look of harsh enjoyment on his face. "Kill them both, you will, and anyone unfortunate enough to be in that vicinity. Sense him on Coruscant, I do. Perhaps take two of our new storm troopers, you must."

Obi-Wan looked into his evil, smiling face.

* * *

"Gone? What do you mean "just gone"?" asked Obi-Wan.

He and two storm troopers were standing outside the Chancellors chambers, interrogating a guard.

"He did not say where. He only told us that he would be gone for a time."

"Did he go with anyone?"

"He told me to tell no one about that," replied the guard smoothly.

_Ah, a mistake,_ thought Obi-Wan gleefully. He waved a hand in front of the man's face as he prompted, "You can tell me."

"No, I cannot," insisted the guard stubbornly, giving him a strange look.

Obi-Wan frowned and put in more force as he waved his hand again. "You _can_ tell me."

The man's eyes glazed over. "I can tell you," he said obediently.

"So, who went with him?" he prompted.

"There was a Jedi – Skywalker was his name, I think – and Senator Amidala of Naboo."

Obi-Wan's eyes narrowed as his suspicions were confirmed.

"Which ship did they leave on?"

"The Chancellor's private ship," said the guard without a second thought of his promise of confidence.

"Thank you," said Obi-Wan dismissively and turned to the two storm troopers flanking him. "Take two of the star fighters. Find them and kill them," he ordered.

"Yes, sir," they complied simultaneously and immediately ran to the hangar.

* * *

A few days later, two clone's star fighters brought _The Eagle of the Stars_ crashing down on Carityne. The clones circled around above the damaged ship for a while. Even from so high, they were able to see the damage was extensive and eventually they both agreed that no one could have survived such a crash as that.

"Right Commander, comm. Master Kenobi and we'll head back," said one of them.

"Roger," the second replied and proceeded to punch in Obi-Wan's code.

* * *

Obi-Wan was sitting cross legged in the Room of a Thousand Fountains, meditating upon the things that had transpired on Mustafar.

_Anakin had to go to that planet and find out about the true nature of the Jedi,_ he pondered.

He knew that Yoda did not like the Masters meditating often unless it was to look for answers to a particular dark side problem because meditation was a light side exercise. But Obi-Wan didn't give Sith spit about what Yoda liked or didn't like; especially not after the force lighting he had inflicted upon him. The use of the light side exercise gave him a way to rebel against Yoda.

_I nearly killed him, my brother,_ he thought in horror as the meditation exercise brought out the carefully guarded and stored bit of light in him. It grew a little bit in strength and filled him with warmth which he hadn't felt in a long, long time. But the darkness remained in control of him.

_What the – _

Obi-Wan opened his eyes as his comm. link sounded. He answered it immediately.

"Master Kenobi," greeted the Storm Trooper, "we have gunned down their ship and they have crashed on a planet called Carityne."

Obi-Wan's interest sharpened at this. "Were there any survivors?"

"It was badly damaged but I cannot be sure."

"You mean you didn't check," corrected Obi-Wan darkly.

"N-no, we didn't," admitted the storm trooper, stuttering as he saw the expression on the Master's face.

Obi-Wan terminated the call, his calm mood shattered by this call from the imbecilic storm trooper. He grumbled quietly to himself and contacted Yoda through the force – he had no desire to meet Yoda in person so soon after that nasty little incident that involved lightning.

_Master Yoda?_

_What is it?_ asked and irritable Yoda.

_The storm troopers have gunned down the Chancellor's ship and they have crash landed on Carityne._

At this point, Obi-Wan felt a roll of deep annoyance and anger through his link with Yoda.

_Dead, are they?_

_They did not confirm._

_Then to Carityne you must go! Kill them you will have to if dead they are not!_

_Of course, Master._

Yoda closed the force link and Obi-Wan sighed as he thought about how warped the Jedi Grand Master had become. Then he stood up to begin preparing for his journey to Carityne.

* * *

**A/N: Yay! He's going to Carityne...reviews make me happy. Hope you liked it.**


	15. An Epiphany

A/N: Well, here's chapter 15! Thank you much to everyone who took time to leave a review! Your support is very encouraging and anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter of great importance, I would think.

* * *

Obi-Wan carefully guided Padme's ship down to the shifting orange sands of Carityne. He had been pestered by that unbelievably irritating droid that his _dear_ Padawan had built for the entire duration of the journey from Coruscant. That droid could pick a fight with about almost anything with that confounded little astrodroid, too, and the endless beeps and raspberries had tested his nerves more than he could bear. He wouldn't have taken the two _useless_ droids on this journey if he could've helped it but they only made an appearance halfway through the journey and he did not think that throwing them out into hyperspace was good enough; he wanted to disassemble both of them piece by piece.

Flicking up a few switches, he landed the ship safely and the ramp opened up, allowing a few grains of sand to fly in and settle gently on the floor.

"Master Kenobi, where are you going?"

Obi-Wan struggled to suppress a groan.

"Nowhere," he said shortly, standing up and turning around to see the protocol droid waddle over to him.

"Oh…do you need any assistance?" If droids could sound taken aback, Obi-Wan would've sworn that 3PO was indeed taken aback by his grouchy answer.

"No, just stay on the ship and take care of it," he told the droid as he disappeared down a corridor for a speeder. He sped out of the corrido and out of the ship a second later, causing 3PO to take a hasty step back in surprise, barely avoiding a collision. Obi-Wan wasn't going particularly fast. In fact it was slow for a speeder.

_Ah…peace at last,_ thought Obi-Wan blissfully when he was a couple of meters from the ship. _No more beeps and whistles and raspberries and stupid, endless comments made by that golden piece of junk…absolute peace._

He carried on riding over the sand at a leisurely pace, just enjoying the space and quiet for the moment. Of course, he could sense his Padawan's distinct force signature on this planet and knew if he let himself be drawn to it, he would undoubtedly find them but…he was not in a hurry so he just rode on at a leisurely pace, taking in the view of the rather bland scenery of this uninhabited planet.

Thirty minutes later and Obi-Wan was not in the same mood of calmness and slowness as he was when he set out on his journey. As expected of his slow-ish pace, he had not made a lot of distance with his finding of Anakin. He could feel his signature getting stronger the closer he got but there was still a fair distance to go. But he knew that he could not expect to get any closer than this. The sand was blowing up in mini tornadoes and grains of sand fell into his clothes, becoming stuck at the most uncomfortable places and the wind was getting stronger with every half-minute that passed. He let out a string of vile curses that would make the most hardened hutt or bounty hunter blush and quiver as he recognized the symptoms of a brewing sandstorm – a big one at that. It was too late to get back to the ship, even with a speeder; the sand storm would blow him into oblivion before he can make it that far.

_But where else could I go?_ Obi-Wan pondered, stopping his bike as the sand began to fly ferociously at his skin.

He felt as if a thousand needles were pricking every inch of his body not protected by clothing. This little dilemma was on the verge of turning into a crisis. If he didn't find some shelter soon, not even the force could prevent him from getting sucked dry. He cast his eyes around his surroundings, urgently looking for a place to hide.

Obi-Wan _supposed_ he could hide in the sand but the sand could blow away and leave him exposed anyway or he could be entertaining death by suffocation, although that problem could be easily solved. He squinted though the swirling orange mist, drawing up his black hood to cover his face.

_Well, I guess that that's my best choice,_ grumbled Obi-Wan to himself after seeing nothing that could hide him.

The Jedi looked at the uninviting sand for a mere second before hopping off the speeder and digging himself into it as far as possible. As soon as he found a comfortable position, he slowed his breathing down with help of the force. Shutting his eyes, he prayed that it was enough to keep him alive through the storm.

* * *

Obi-Wan cautiously cracked an eye open. The roar that had been going on for what felt like a whole day was gone as if it had never been. After straining his ears a bit more, he decided that it was safe to get up. He forced himself through the layer of sand that seem to have doubled its height and scrambled up; giving himself a vigorous shake that sent sand flying off him in sheets.

"Ugh," he grunted as he ran a hand through his hair causing some stubborn grains to drop out.

The surface of the planet seemed to have changed its appearance. The sand dunes that were there before the sand storm have vanished; replaced by a whole new landscape of different dunes. The dry little shrubs that had fought so hard to survive in the harsh climate lay buried, their efforts put to waste. Only a few survived.

Offering a shrug of his shoulders at the transformation, Obi-Wan turned for his speeder, only to find that it was nowhere to be seen, being buried somewhere in the endless rolling sand dunes. He was going to have to walk back to his ship, he realized. He couldn't carry on going forward in this dry environment on foot. Shaking his head at his folly of not making haste, he turned to the direction from where he came and he trudged through the sand in that direction.

* * *

Obi-Wan crouched behind a sand dune – the sand dune that his quarry was about to pass.

He had kipped back to his ship after the sand storm but had found the very person he was looking for nonchalantly stealing three speeders from the hold. It had been a perfect opportunity to kill him but Obi-Wan had come up with a devious plan to capture all three chickens at once. Anakin had taken three speeders – one for himself, another for the Chancellor and the last one for his beloved – and they would all come speeding past him soon. Of course, this plan may not work, given that there are two force-sensitives in the other party, but it gave him an excellent chance to murder all three without going out to find them. However, he had been waiting for them for at least three hours already and the sun was sinking swiftly behind that lone mountain in the distance and he was beginning to feel impatient.

"We're nearly there!" shouted a voice, made faint by distance but a voice Obi-Wan recognized nevertheless.

He smiled grimly and shifted his weight slightly so he could act when the time came. He could hear the vehicles coming closer…any moment now…he reached into the dark force, harnessing its immense power and extending his senses…

He suddenly leapt up lightly onto the top of the dune.

"Anak – " the slender Senator managed to scream before Obi-Wan sent a strong force shove at her, sending her flying out of her seat.

But her shriek had alerted her husband to her demise and even before her thin body slammed into the sand behind her, he was back flipping out of his seat. Obi-Wan turned to see his ex-pupil landing smoothly on the ground and a hooded, dark figure standing behind him.

He gave a smirk. Surely the Chancellor knew that the Jedi knew he was the Sith Lord and that a hood would not keep his identity a secret any longer. Silly man.

"Take them to the ship!" Anakin yelled to the Chancellor, who complied, using the force to pick up three forms…three?

Obi-Wan grinned malignantly as he grasped what it meant – Padme Amidala had given birth to what appears to be twins.

_Yoda would be very happy with this news,_ he thought.

Anakin activated his blue blade, pulling his attention back to the current situation, and he followed suit, igniting his red saber.

He hadn't wanted it to come to this. He didn't want to kill the man he had come to love as family but his selfish desire not to be exposed to anymore force lightning dominated his mind. He pushed his compassion and weakness away, replacing it with anger inducing memories and thoughts, immersing himself deep into the darkness so he would be able to do what he had come to do. The darkness filled him with potent energy and strength - it made him powerful.

"So, you're alive," he stated rhetorically, a sneer twisting his features. He wanted to goad Anakin into anger – he wanted him to use it against him. But the manner in which Anakin replied somehow surprised him.

"Why did you join the dark side, Obi-Wan?" he asked, a sincere sadness filling his blue eyes. "Why?"

_Because they forced me to, manipulated me with my – _Obi-Wan broke off that train of thought. He didn not want to go there.

Out of inability to answer the question, he charged at Anakin, swinging his light saber and letting a furious snarl rip from his lips. The Sith anticipated it and dodged to the side, not even using his light saber to block the strike. Obi-Wan pivoted around and lashed out at him again and again, he jumped out of reach. This enraged Obi-Wan. Why wouldn't he fight?

"Fight me, Anakin! Let loose all your hate for the Jedi who deceived you!" He wanted his friend to turn to the dark side – his side.

Anakin seemed to follow his thoughts and the words he uttered came as a surprise to him again. "It's not too late for you to turn back to the Light, Obi-Wan. There is still good in you, I have sensed it. If you want me to fight at your side, turn back to the Light, for I will never turn to the Dark."

His words further infuriated him. How could he turn back to the light? There is _no _good left in him. The path to the dark side was a one way – there is no turning back. The poor boy didn't know what he was missing. "You don't know what you are talking about, Anakin! You don't know the full power of the Dark side; you don't know what we are capable of!"

"Maybe not, Obi-Wan, but I know enough of the Light side to know that I will never turn."

"And why is that?" spat Obi-Wan.

"Because I know what it is like to love. I loved you Obi-Wan, for the person you pretended to be, you were like the father I never had," said Anakin softly, staring into his eyes "Please turn back to the Light, Obi-Wan."

Obi-Wan was taken aback by Anakin's words. It stirred up a powerful feeling he had never felt for a long time and he felt confused. The feeling went against everything he had been taught by the Jedi Masters when he joined the council, everything he himself had learned after that day. The feeling brought back a memory from a long time ago, when he was young and foolish.

_He walked through the lush green garden of Jada's house carrying a beautiful white flower he had brought earlier that day. Turning around the corner of a hedge, he saw her. He stood there for a moment; just looking at her, letting his eyes run over every detail of her beautiful face –_

He ripped himself away from that memory with an effort, knowing that it would only bring pain. He had not thought of her for so long and the thought of her brought up such conflicting emotions within him. He stared back into Anakin's eyes, searching for something in a moment of weakness. Then he returned to his anger.

_How dare he presume that he had never been in love before?! he thought wildly._

"How dare you play mind tricks on me?" he shouted instead.

"I didn't do anything. But you felt something didn't you? I could see it in your eyes. I know you aren't fully corrupted by the Dark, yet. You couldn't kill me in Mustafar. Think about that feeling you had, Obi-Wan, and come back to the Light."

With that, Anakin loped the last ten meters to the ship, leaving Obi-Wan standing with his red lightsaber at his side feeling thoroughly confused with his emotions, too confused to complete his original intention of killing him. The consequences of that would definitely not be good – he had failed again. He stared helplessly at the ship as it took off, leaving him stranded on this empty planet, struggling to suppress memories thought to be forgotten..

* * *

_You are a vessel of the dark side._

_My love for her was so pure – like the light._

_You have chosen your path. You don't belong with the light anymore._

_It was so warm and so happy…_

_You were her toy; she never loved you._

_I miss the light._

_The light makes you weak._

_And the dark?_

_It makes you stronger than you could ever be._

_But it is so…devoid of emotion…of happiness._

_No, it is not. You get happiness from the demise of others. It gives you joy._

_Sick joy, not happy joy._

_Joy nevertheless._

Obi-Wan moaned and gripped his head. He was sitting in the same position he was in when the ship had left, more than an hour ago and had been arguing with himself ever since.

Anakin's words had affected him more than he would've liked. Light memories had resurfaced despite his attempts to squash them. Happy memories of his childhood at the Temple had been replayed inside his head, the innocence he had had, the laughter that so often escaped from his lips…true laughter that held fruits of joy in it – laughter he hadn't been able to utter in all his years as a Jedi Master. He remembered the happy times of love he had shared with Jada before everything had been revealed to him.

Jada had been his undoing, his fall to the dark path. The darkness within him had stemmed from that fateful day when his heart had been painfully ripped into shreds, hate for the Jedi had filled him, hate that had invited the cold darkness which had eaten away at his soul, the darkness that had robbed the simple feeling of happiness from him.

At that time, he had welcomed the darkness. It had provided an outlet to his hate that had stayed in his heart like a dark stone, tainting all his thoughts with it. He had hated almost everyone he came into contact with, blaming them irrationally for his own problems. It had darkened, blinded him to all that was beautiful in life, so immersed in his hatred was he.

An involuntary sob rose from his throat as he realized what he what had been taken from him. Tear ducts that had been dry for more than a decade suddenly filled with salty tears. He wiped them away with shaky hands.

Inside him, he could feel a change. The wall he had kept around the light within him crumbled and collapsed, setting it free. The darkness unraveled, receding away almost into nothingness as the light infused him, spreading its warmth through his very soul. Oh, how he missed that warmth. He missed it so, so much. It was as if he had been stuffed into an ice cube on that fateful day and now he was feeling warm and full for the first time since. He knew that he had never truly turned. He had kept his vow of keeping the light and humility within him over all these cold years after he had seen the extent of Yoda's evil.

But even with that inside of him, he had not protested at carrying out his many evil deeds. The deeds that were coming back to haunt him now – how he had committed more genocides than he would've thought possible, how the screams of terror fell upon his deaf ears as he killed them remorselessly, how he had murdered and killed and assassinated without mercy and even taking a sick sense of joy from it, how he used all his hatred to do the things and each and every deed led him further and further down the dark path, the wrong path. Each and every deed he remembered now struck him like a whip, feeling all the remorse and disgust he should have felt when committing those terrible actions like a lash of despise at himself.

The force reached out to him then, comforting him with its warmth and urging him to let go of his anger.

_Let me take your burden,_ it seemed to say. _Let go of your hate._

Gathering his anger and hate, he finally did something he should have done years ago; he finally released it into the force. Obi-Wan Kenobi collapsed onto the sand, sobbing uncontrollably half out of joy and half out of sadness at his epiphany to the light side.

Turning back to the light had been such a painful experience - spiritually and emotionally. But Obi-Wan knew that the darkness will forever be lurking in a dark corner of his soul, tainting his essence and he knew that if he was pushed beyond endurance; if his new found spirit was broken, the darkness would come back and prevail. He would try his best not to let that happen and he knew what he had to do.

* * *

A/N: I hope that this chapter didn't disappoint you. It was the best I could do with Obi-Wan. Like it or not - please leave me a review and tell me what ya think of it. Much appreciated!


	16. Family Life and a Plan

**A/N: Well, folks, this is chapter 16. Here Anakin is introduced to the chaos of family life and Obi-Wan hatches a plan. Thanks again to everyone who reviewed. :)**

* * *

It was almost completely dark on Carityne, with only the clusters of shining stars offering light.

Obi-Wan pulled himself up and wrapped his arms around his knees, rubbing away his last tears with a grimy hand and looking very much like a little child. He rested his chin in the little valley between his two kneecaps and stared up at the stars which never ceased to amaze him. They were his constants, always there and never changing, bringing to him something he could always count on to be the same when life takes so many unexpected turns, changing him like ripples in an ocean does to its surface. And his life had just taken a huge turn – again.

He knew what he must do. It was imperative to destroy the evil that had prevented him from seeing his mistakes for so long. He had to destroy the Jedi Order.

_Yes, _thought Obi-Wan determinedly, _that is what I MUST do. Perhaps I could join Anakin and the Chancellor and help them; perhaps with their help we can kill evil once and for all. Or perhaps he should return to the Order and act as a spy so when time was ripe, he could inform Anakin and kill Yoda himself. Perhaps he should just go back and kill Yoda and all the Masters in their sleep. Perhaps…no, not perhaps – I MUST. It's just a matter of HOW._

With that thought, Obi-Wan stood up. He would have to go to their wrecked ship after all – he couldn't sit there and wait for the new day or he'll be fried by the time he gets to the ship. There really was no reason why he should go; he just needed somewhere go to.

_I will have a plan before I call for rescue, _he vowed to himself. _Before I get off this planet, I will know what to do._

* * *

Yoda paced up and down in his meditation room uneasily. There was a disturbance in the darkness of the force, he could feel it but he couldn't find the source of it and that was what was disturbing him the most. Yoda knew that he was immensely powerful with the force and he wass able to sense every disturbance or fluctuation within the force…should be able to. Now all he had sensed was a bright light in the darkness and then…nothing – just the darkness as it always has been. Yoda let out a frustrated growl as he pondered this problem.

He never thought to turn his thoughts to Obi-Wan and never would have. That Kenobi nuisance could never have caused such a disturbance on that remote little planet, after all. He was simply a weak pawn in his bigger diabolical plans.

* * *

Padme reached the door first and reached out to touch the relief carvings of animals and birds carved into the rich brown wood. She marveled at how smooth it was and traced a finger around the squirrel that was eating a nut.

"How do you open it?"

"Here," offered Palpatine and he pushed the nut that the squirrel was holding.

The wood sank in and a little whirring of mechanics followed. A retina scanner appeared a second later and Padme stood back to allow Palpatine in front of the scanner. He was blinded by a brief flash of light and he blinked several times to clear his spotty vision.

The door seemed to think a while before it relented and slid open for them, revealing an enormous and an extravagantly decorated entrance hall.

"Ladies first," he offered, gesturing her in.

Padme stepped through the door with Leia and looked around, wide-eyed. Its design impressed her and it allowed for much space. Its floors were polished, shiny first grade stones and the walls were paneled wood with holoframes hanging aesthetically all over. The ceiling was high, extending to the roof and she could see a sky bridge with glass railings connecting the two sides of the second floor. She had seen a fair share of rich houses as a queen and a senator but none could be compared to the Chancellor's mansion.

Anakin followed in behind with Luke hanging awkwardly on his neck and looked around with disregard. It _was_ very nice, decorations and all but, being used to the humbleness of the Temple, he couldn't help but think that it was rather pointless and a waste of good credits. It was only going to house five people, after all. That large golden vase with the big bunch of wildflowers for example – the credits used to buy that monstrous thing could surely have been used for a better purpose.

"What do you think?" asked Palpatine, obviously pleased with himself.

"Well, uh, it's big and has lots of…decorations and…it is going to have to some getting used to," finished Anakin, slightly uncomfortable with the question.

Both men turned to Padme for her opinion and found themselves face to face with a gaze full of thinly veiled accusation. Not knowing what she could be accusing _him_ of, Anakin turned to look at Palpatine, who was looking back at her calmly.

"You planned this all along? With the house and all its furniture all bought? Is there some other plan you are not telling us about? Why are we hiding in such an open planet? Are you trying to get us found?!" she asked, letting out a torrent of suspicions at the undeserving Palpatine. She knew that she should be grateful to have a place to live but she couldn't help being paranoid after all the betrayals she had been through.

Palpatine sensed her paranoia and gave her a reassuring smile. "I assure you, Padme, that I have no other intentions other than to keep us safe from the Jedi. Zeta is a very small and peaceful farming planet on the very outskirts of the Mid-Rim – "

"And you think that will make us safe?"

"No. It is a farming planet and few people live here. Everybody not working in the market downtown has a farm of sorts. The estates are large – more than seven hundred acres – so news of new neighbors will travel slowly or not at all and we will barely come into contact with them so our identities will be safe. The Jedi would probably think that we would have hidden in some shady place like Nar Shadaa," he explained. "And besides, I don't think you would like the children to grow up in places like that," he added as his final point in his argument.

Padme blanched a little at that thought and she backed down. "I'm sorry, I'm just quite…" she trailed off, not knowing what she quite was.

"Don't worry, I understand what it must be like after so many broken trusts." He gave a comforting pat on the shoulder.

"Thank you, Palpatine," she said, meaning every word, "I really don't know what we would've done without – "

She was cut off by a bubbly baby laugh that Leia emitted and both looked down at her, and then looked in the direction where she was pointing to and both promptly burst out laughing. Sensing her mother's happiness, Leia laughed all the louder.

Luke was half sitting on his father's shoulders, making Anakin stick his neck forward, and was busy tugging hard at his father's blond hair, a careless finger or toe occasionally finding its way into his mouth before being batted away by a hand.

Realizing that that he had been noticed, Anakin stopped battling his son and looked at them pleadingly. "Uh...a little help here, please?"

Still chuckling at his predicament, Palpatine took little Luke under the armpits and lifted him off Anakin's shoulder. He gave his hair one last tug before he let go and Anakin straightened up, grimacing and rubbing his scalp gingerly with a hand.

"I think I'm going to go prematurely bald with that little terror running around."

Grinning, Padme linked her free arm with his. "Come on, he can't be worse than what you faced on some of your missions. He just loves you."

"I had the complete opposite impression," he grumbled good naturedly. "I must've lost more than a hundred strands of hair."

"Anakin!" Padme admonished him in mock horror. "Of course he loves you – he's your son."

She pulled him over to Palpatine who was tickling now the blond twin beneath his chubby chin, making him laugh. As Anakin neared, he reached his little arms out to him, looking imploringly at Anakin to take him back with his wide blue eyes.

The toddler narrowed his eyes when Anakin didn't move to take him back and, before any of them knew what was happening, Luke leaned forward and bit Palpatine's hand _very_ hard with his toothless gums. Palpatine drew his hand away with a hiss of surprise and pain, dropping Luke in the process.

"Holy mother of – Luke!"

Anakin lunged at his son and managed to catch him before he hit the floor. He breathed a sigh of relief.

The toddler simply looked up at him with adoring blue eyes and Anakin groaned as he realized that Luke was right in the place where he wanted to be – in his father's arms.

"Why, you conniving little – "

"Anakin," cautioned Padme, who was clutching Leia in fright and shock.

"Sorry," he grumbled as he hoisted Luke onto one hip.

"Right, I think we had better get you settled in," announced Palpatine, rubbing the red, crescent shaped welt that had risen up on his hand. "Comm. the droids, will you, Anakin? And tell them to bring the luggage, too." He looked at his damaged hand as if he were fascinated. "Surprising what a toothless baby can do," he added.

* * *

It was midday by the time Obi-Wan made it to the fallen ship. He was feeling thoroughly sun burnt, his neck and face burning and angry red.

Returning to the light had been a painful experience but being free of the consuming darkness was well worth the fight. Obi-Wan knew he was powerful. The potential power had been born with him, growing bigger and bigger as he learnt more and more about the force at the Temple but he had been so young when he turned that he hadn't realized just how much his power had grown over the dark years. He had only been strong with the dark but with the light…he couldn't really describe it; it made him feel more than powerful – like he understood himself for the first time in his life. It was as if the dark side of the force had been hiding this magnificent feeling of light from him, trapping it within its sly fingers, which he supposed it had.

He collapsed in the shade of the twisted metal of the ship and stretched his legs out in front of him, glad to be resting his tired limbs.

His long trek had given his mind time to sort itself out so he could think more clearly of a plan but it had also allowed doubts to accost his fragile state of mind. All he knew was that the Jedi were evil – of that he was sure. He had seen all Yoda's plots – the Death Star, the clones and his wish to control the galaxy by himself - and none of them bode well. At the time when he had heard it, the plans had sounded beautiful; such was his desire to want to see the world suffer like he did but now he understood the true wickedness of it.

But wouldn't it be easier to turn back to the Jedi and pretend that nothing had happened? Wouldn't it be easier just to join the darkness instead of hiding his light? He didn't even know if his plans would work. He didn't even _have _any plans.

_Yesssss go back to the Jedi, they are your friends, your family…_whispered a shard of darkness that still lingered.

_No,_ Obi-Wan told it and firmly pushed it away with a shake of his head.

Resting his back against the cool metal, he slipped into a meditative trance and began to formulate the plans and actions he would need to execute to bring about his final goal.

* * *

Anakin sat contentedly in his cushioned armchair, keeping a watchful eye on the twins as they crawled around the large (everything was large in the house) living room enthusiastically examining every inch of their new surroundings. Palpatine and Padme were unpacking in their respective rooms and he had been given the task of ensuring that the twins didn't hurt themselves while exploring.

He had begun to doze off when Padme rushed into the room, wringing her hands. The twins stopped crawling and looked up at their mother, the laughter dying on their faces when they saw the state she was in. Anakin was instantly wide awake, springing up from his chair with his hand straying automatically to his lightsabre, fully expecting danger.

"Anakin!" she exclaimed with a stressed expression on her face.

"What is it?" He tensed his body up, ready for whatever was about to come.

"Ani, we need baby cots, baby clothes, baby soap, baby shampoo, baby underwear, baby food and baby EVERYTHING!" she cried, the week of danger finally catching up to her in the form of stress.

Anakin did not quite know how to respond this new problem as he gripped her shoulders steadily. This was certainly not the type of problem he expected. He never knew that babies needed _so_ many things.

"Padme," he cooed soothingly, rubbing her shoulders with his thumbs, "relax, we can send 3PO and R2 to the market and we will have your things in no time. Just relax."

Padme closed her eyes and took a deep, calming breath and let it out in a rush. "Sorry, Ani, I'm just...a little stressed. I want Luke and Leia to have the best of everything."

"So do I, Angel," he said, landing a kiss at the top of her head, "and they will have the best, I promise."

They both looked up as they heard boots clumping on the wooden floor towards them.

"Anakin, I have something to discuss with you," said Palpatine, striding in from the corridor opposite where they stood. "You need to find a job," he continued without a pause.

Anakin looked at him blankly. "A job?"

"Yes, a job. My riches can't last us for four years and neither can Padme's, so you need a job."

"But I can't go to the market – that will be risking our identities."

"So therefore you farm – here, on our land," Palpatine pointed out, gesturing at the large fields outside the window.

Anakin nearly suffered a premature stroke. "I don't know how to farm!"

"Which is why you are going to comm. the droids and tell them to buy you some holobooks on farming along with whatever else you need," announced Palpatine victoriously.

Glaring at the elder Sith, he pulled out his comm. link and listed off the things that they needed to the unfortunate droid. "…oh and take R2 with you."

"Why farming?" he asked, stuffing the link back onto his belt. "I am _not_ a farmer."

"Because we're on a farming planet. But there's another thing I wanted to tell you."

"Oh?"

"We start planning our moves next week, once we've settled down enough."

"Yes, we need to start as soon as possible."

Satisfied that everything was in order, Palpatine turned his attention to the whims of his body. "Now, is anybody hungry? It's dinner time soon."

* * *

Obi-Wan opened his eyes from his long meditation and arched his back, stretching his stiff muscles that were telling him to move. Rolling his shoulders, he groaned as numb nerves in his legs made themselves known. Ignoring them, he climbed up to his feet resolutely, wincing at the pricks of pain as his nerves protested. He had a plan now and he knew exactly what he must do.

To begin with, he has to find Anakin, who would undoubtedly be with his family and the Chancellor. Once he has found them he would have to convince them that he has genuinely turned back to the light side. That would be the hardest part of the plan. Then, after he has got _that_ over with, he would have to convince them to…

_Now this is the most…foolish and absurd thing that will ever be attempted by me, _thought Obi-Wan ominously. _Breaking into a Temple full of dark masters. What am I thinking?_

…follow his plan of _capturing_ padawans and explaining the situation to them. _Hopefully _the padawans will understand and join them in their quest. If not…well, they would find a way over that one when they get there. It was the only way he could think of that they could acquire force sensitive individuals who already have some grasp over their power instead of training new ones.

It was not much of a plan, but it was still a plan - something to get working on.

Nodding to himself, he turned to the problem at hand. He had to get off this blasted place soon or Yoda would be wondering where he had gone to. He unclipped his comm. link from his belt and contacted one of the clone captains.

"What is it, Master Kenobi?"

"I need you to pick me up."

"Of course, your coordinates, sir?" The clone was clever enough not to ask any questions about the strange request.

Obi-Wan gave him the set of numbers and ended the call. For the first time since the clones were created, he felt slightly sorry for them. They were created for the sole purpose of following orders; they couldn't decide if they wanted to follow orders or not.

He stood for a moment, thinking, before pulling out his communications device again and he punched in another number. A couple of bleeps later a sleepy looking man stepped into view.

"Obi-Wan, what is it?"

"Sorry to wake you, Ruwee. I'm afraid Padme has gone missing," Obi-Wan told the father solemnly. He had met Ruwee during a mission to Naboo thirteen years ago and had been one of his only people he considered to be a friend in his dark years. He decided that a few white lies about his daughter wouldn't hurt.

Ruwee Naberrie frowned in anxiety, all signs of sleep disappearing from his features. "Missing? Since when?"

"We don't know – we only found out that she was missing today. We need you to help us with any information you have that could lead to your daughter's whereabouts."

"Of course, what do you need?"

"Can I please have her comm. number?"

Ruwee nodded. "Anything to help find my daughter," he declared and told Obi-Wan the number.

"Thank you, Ruwee. I'll give you news as soon as I have something solid."

Ruwee inclined his head. "Good day, Obi-Wan," he said as the call ended. He stood back and regarded the hololink.

_What has his daughter gotten into now? _he thought fretfully.

Leaning forward to the comm. link once more, he typed in his daughter's number.

* * *

Anakin groaned as Padme pulled away from him to answer the insistently beeping device.

"Do you have to answer it?" he asked, trailing his hands around her waist.

"Yes, Ani," she replied, giving him a kiss. "I'm sure you can wait a while longer," she teased.

He sighed and watched her wrap the blanket around herself and make for the annoying little device. He rolled onto his back and put his arms behind his head, wondering who it was.

"Father!"

Her exclamation shot him up straight. _What was her father calling for?_

"Padme, where are – " Ruwee broke off in mid-sentence as he saw another figure sit up behind her – a man, naked in a bed.

Padme noticed his gaze and blushed as his mind jumped to the conclusion.

"Don't worry, Father, we're married…"

Her father turned a stern gaze at her. "Who's we, Padme? And since when were you married?"

"We married three years ago, Anakin and I," she whispered, wide-eyed.

Ruwee frowned angrily. "That Skywalker kid? Why didn't you tell your mother or me?"

"We couldn't – Anakin was a Jedi and they weren't allowed to be married. We had to keep it a secret," she explained.

Ruwee looked down for a moment before looking back at her. "Well, I suppose the boy isn't that bad," he conceded grudgingly. His expression turned into one of worry. "Where are you, Padme?"

She sighed. She really didn't want to worry her father. "I can't tell you, Dad, but We're safe, don't worry." Then she brightened as she remembered something. "And you've got more grandchildren!"

His face became pinched. "What do you mean?" he asked, all thoughts of her current whereabouts disappearing.

"We've got twins, Daddy, isn't that wonderful?" she beamed, sparkling happily.

Taking in all this news at one time was quite a shock but he could see how happy his precious Padme was and he wouldn't take that from her. It was quite obvious that she wasn't missing as the Jedi had tought she was and it was also obvious that she was content and safe where ever she was. He didn't want to spoil her happiness by being an overprotective and overbearing father.

"Yes, it is," he agreed, smiling back. "Promise to send us some pictures, okay?"

"Of course, Dad, I'll keep in touch. Love you!

"Bye, Padme. I will tell your mother your news - she'll be very excited. I love you, too, honey."

Switching off the comm. link Padme sat back. "Well, that conversation went better than I thought it would."

* * *

Pleased, Obi-Wan clipped his link firmly back onto his belt. He has got the information he was looking for. The trace told him that they were on a small planet in the Mid-Rim called Zeta Doradus. He had only taken her number in case Ruwee didn't contact Padme but the man had acted as he expected he would. Now the only thing left to do today was to face the wrath of Yoda and hide his light from him.

* * *

**A/N: this chapter wasn't entirely satisfactory but I suppose it'll do. What do you think?**


	17. Farming

**A/N: Sorry for the long break - I had writer's block but here we go: The next chapter. Enjoy!**

To** hmmm**: Thanks! I'll keep your advice in mind but this story is near its end so I won't be changing anything. I did change the timing around quite a lot to fit this story but I'll be sure to look up the dates for my next one.

* * *

Obi-Wan felt a feeling of misgiving rise as the ship neared. He had qualms about whether he was strong enough to hide his true nature from Yoda. What if the diminutive Master was stronger than him and could see through him? He shifted from foot to foot nervously but schooled his expression as the vehicle landed and a clone trooper jumped out.

"Master Kenobi, Master Yoda wishes to speak to you on board."

_Already? He must know about my failure…_he thought. _or is it more?_

Letting none of his thoughts or emotions show, he nodded curtly to the captain and climbed into the hold.

"Master Yoda, we have found him," said the captain from behind him.

"Good," drawled Yoda. The voice sent shivers up and down Obi-Wan's spine and he suppressed a shudder. He instinctively tightened his shields around his mind and curbed his feelings, pushing them down into a bottle and corking it tightly so they would stay inside and not hamper him.

The captain turned around and handed the hololink Obi-Wan. The hologram of the familiar figure of Yoda stood, leaning on his gimmer stick and looking up at Obi-Wan who looked back indifferently. The face appeared so familiar, but yet it looked different – more evil, he realized. Perhaps it was just the change of perspective in his new light. The lines on the wizened face deepened with something akin to anger.

"Failed me again, you have," growled Yoda darkly, the three fingers of his claw tightening around the knob of the stick. "In my meditation chambers, meet me when back, you are."

"Yes, Master," said Obi-Wan, bowing his head.

Yoda narrowed his eyes and fixed him with a penetrating stare. Before he had time to decipher what that look meant, the transmission ended. Slightly unnerved, Obi-Wan handed the hololink back to the captain's armored hand. That stare had seemed to see right through his mask. Had it meant something? Obi-Wan shivered. Hopefully not, or all his plans would go to pot, not to mention his life.

He gripped the railing above him as they took off, leaving the orange sands behind in a matter of seconds. Keeping up the façade of the Jedi Master was going to be harder than keeping up the façade of the kind and caring father figure he had pretended to be when still dark. Facing Yoda in would be harder than he anticipated. He just prayed to the force that that stare had meant nothing.

* * *

Anakin stared down at the holobook in his hands unseeingly.

_Who would've expected that a Jedi-turned-Sith would be learning how to farm?_ complained Anakin silently to himself and let out a loud huff of air.

The book bored him to death and he had gradually stopped reading it as the hours of the early morning went by. He leaned his head back on the headboard, the movement causing Padme to stir beside him. A slender arm draped itself over his stomach as she snuggled up to him, burying her head by his chest. He put an arm across her shoulders and pulled her tighter against him and closed his eyes, stroking her shoulders absent-mindedly.

3PO had come back from the village store lugging several bags full of things that included all the baby requirements that Padme had requested and _lots_ of books. So many, in fact, that it had filled an entire bag. Anakin had looked through it with dismay and the robot had began to apologize profusely in his whiny voice, saying: "Oh, I'm terribly sorry, Master Anakin, but you did not specify which _type_ of farming you wanted to read about…"

To which Anakin had threatened to switch him off. 3PO had remained silent after that, although he heard an occasional mutter and grumble come from him, too soft for him to catch what was being said.

He had gone through all the books later that night under profound boredom and his head was almost spinning with the many different farming types dancing around his head and wandering across his tired eyes. _Fruit farming, maize farming, rice farming, flower farming (although it was only for shows) _and the list goes on. The only farming he had ever heard of was moisture farming on Tatooine, but that was a long time ago. He eventually chose the book on fruit farming to read – it didn't sound as hard or as taxing as the other types sounded, although the book proved him wrong shortly after he began reading.

Padme breathed in. "Ani, are you 'wake?" she mumbled into his chest, eyes closed.

He planted a small kiss on her nose as an answer. She smiled, still keeping her eyes closed.

"How're my babies?" she asked, stroking his chest with a hand.

Anakin gazed away towards the twin's room as if he could see through the separating wall between them for a moment or two.

"They're fine," he answered tenderly. His force link with them was already very strong even at their young age and he could sense them almost as if they were part of him. _That,_ he supposed was entirely due to his strength with the force. He really should test their midichlorian count as soon as possible. "Not a sound at all."

She sat up slowly with a small sigh and rubbed her eyes. Anakin reluctantly relinquished her shoulder and instead, played with her soft tresses.

"Really?" she asked. "Not a sound at all?"

"No, not at all."

"That's unusual," stated Padme worriedly.

Anakin frowned, puzzled. "Why?"

"Weren't they hungry or anything? Babies cry when they are hungry and they can't have gone through an entire night without being hungry."

"I did get up once or twice during the night to feed them that powdered milk you bought," he told her smiling, "and besides, they didn't make much noise on the ship."

"But I was always next them, then, and I fed them whenever they began to make their hunger known." Then she raised an eyebrow at him. "How did you know when they were hungry? You said they didn't make a noise."

"I sensed them and got to them before they could start making a noise," he answered.

Her face became thoughtful. "Through the force? Well, I suppose you will have a strong link with each other."

"Yes, we already do," he said, then grinned and wrapped his arm around her waist. "Are you feeling left out, darling?"

She pouted at him and then smiled a tad evilly. "So how's your reading going?" she teased. "Can we expect delicious fruits from you soon?"

He snorted. "Yes, you can, but you'll only get delicious fruit if you all pitch in to help."

"Come on, Ani. Where did my strong Jed –" Padme caught herself just in time and changed what she was going to say "– Sith disappear to? Surely with all your skills you can grow a few trees?"

"I'm still here," replied Anakin. "And growing trees was not included in my curriculum and has nothing to do with my skills," he added a touch indignantly.

She laughed. "Hmm, but I have to take care of the kids," she said with a grin.

"Are you enjoying yourself teasing me, Senator?"

"Of course I am."

Anakin expelled a large huff of air. "Hmph," he humphed and let his arm slip from her midriff. "Let's get some breakfast. I have to send 3PO to the market again for some seeds and see if I can finish reading that book this morning."

"What type of fruit are you planning to plant?" she asked as she slid off the bed to get dressed.

"Uh…I don't know. Whatever 3PO finds, I suppose."

* * *

Obi-Wan could feel his stomach clenching with nerves as his transport touched down by the Jedi Temple and he had to force himself to take deep breaths.

_Come now, Kenobi, It wouldn't do for you to get this far to betray your feelings at the wrong time. Control yourself._

He closed his eyes and reached out to the force for help – and stopped himself quickly as he realized Yoda was bound to sense him if he used the light side. With an inward groan, he decided to settle for raising his mental shields lest Yoda should try and pry into his mind.

Steeling himself for the worst and slipping his placid Jedi mask on, he flicked open the door and hopped off the vehicle. He strode with measured haste towards Yoda's meditation chamber.

Looking around at the Temple, he couldn't help but look at it in a new light. The pillars that had once been welcoming and friendly now seemed cold and menacing and coupled with what he knew lay inside, the Temple looked downright evil. He could think of many a time when he entered and walked these halls with Anakin, his brother who had turned him back onto the right path.

With some difficulty, he managed to push those thoughts out of his mind. What should he do if Yoda knows about his treason?

He winced at that thought. If Yoda did know about his return to the light side, then he could do one of two things: kill him, even if it is near impossible, or return to the dark side.

As soon as he thought of his two solutions, he knew which one he would choose, even if it did mean that he would most likely die in the process. He sucked in a breath. His dying means that he would not be able to straighten things out with Anakin and his family and never have the chance to help them with their war against the dark side.

He was now getting dangerously close to Yoda's chambers. Breathing deeply, he cleared his mind of all his incriminating thoughts and drew his mind shields even tighter around his mind. He stepped up to the door which slid silently open to invite him into the darkly lit room where Yoda was waiting for him in the center. There was a tense silence as Obi-Wan held Yoda's narrowed stare neutrally. He felt a few force probes on the edge of his mind but, to his relief, Yoda did not force his shields down.

"So, Kenobi, failed me again, you have. What to do with you, this time?" asked Yoda in a cheerful tone that did not match his hard, cruel eyes.

"I am sorry, Master," replied Obi-Wan neutrally, looking at the innumerable number of deep green wrinkles on Yoda's forehead instead of meeting the eyes.

"Look to me!" he snapped.

Obi-Wan reluctantly dragged his gaze down. "I am sorry," he repeated. "I _will_ find them get them, if you will allow me another chance," he added, inwardly hoping that he would.

Yoda peered at him, his ruthless eyes darting all over his face in a way that made him very uneasy. With a little 'hmm' of thought, the troll settled himself into his chair.

"Sense a change in you, I do," he stated.

Obi-Wan's breath caught in his throat and his heart began to skip but he managed to keep his face expressionless. Did he…?

"Pinpoint it I cannot," Yoda continued, still staring at him intensely. "Know if it is for the best, I do not."

No, he didn't. Obi-Wan's mind exhaled in mental relief. He didn't relax entirely though, he knew that the worst was still coming. The small Jedi Master frowned in concentration, all the while looking at Obi-Wan.

"Hmm, Kenobi, perhaps give you another chance, I shall," Yoda announced.

Obi-Wan blinked. This was a kind thing for Yoda to do. _Too kind_, a voice in his head whispered. He pulled his brows together in a slight frown that was so small that Yoda nearly missed his reaction to his words.

"Know your Padawan best, you do," said Yoda in a way of explaining. "Know the Chancellor, too, you do and know where they will seek hiding, you will guess better."

"Certainly, Master." Obi-Wan bowed politely while alarm klaxons screamed incessantly in his head. _He knows something_. "I shall prepare my search now, if this is all you need me for."

Yoda dipped his head in acknowledgement and Obi-Wan turned to leave.

The only warning he had was a slight movement in the edge of his vision. He had less than a second to brace himself before the brilliant blue streak of force energy engulfed him in a wave of agony that lasted longer than it should. Yoda lazily flicked another bolt of blue at him with his three-clawed hand and watched with amusement as Obi-Wan writhed about on his knees. He sent one last lightning bolt at him before growing bored and turning away.

"Get out."

Glaring at his back, Obi-Wan staggered to his feet and, flinching with each step, he lurched out of the room.

* * *

He knew something was out of place with Obi-Wan Kenobi, but he could not determine what it was that had changed even with the help of the force and that was what worried him. Kenobi was not the same, he sensed as much when the Jedi Master entered his meditation chambers, and he had tried to probe his mind only to find strong mental shields blocking his way. Yoda knew that he could break through those shields if he wanted to but…he had chosen not to. Kenobi was trying to hide something from him and, in his prideful overconfidence in himself, he chose to see how Kenobi's little secret would play out, positive that he could deal with whatever would happen.

* * *

_7 days later…_

Anakin peered into the bag unenthusiastically. It took him seven days to get all the things he needed to start farming and it had cost 3PO up to six trips to the market each day. Finally, much frustration and many headaches later, he has everything he asked for – a plough, several bags of seeds, an irrigation system and a patch of grassless ground that will be used as their orchard for the fruit trees.

"What type of fruit is it?" asked Padme beside him, bending over carefully so she would not disturb a bottled Luke on her hips.

He shrugged noncommittally. "Ask 3PO," he grumbled and then sighed. "I suppose I'll have to resign myself to my fate. No more flying or adventuring; only saber practices with Palpatine in between farm work…" he trailed off, looking glumly at the bag of seeds.

Padme rubbed his shoulder sympathetically. "Don't worry, Ani. You'll have your family with you and Luke and Leia will give you more adventures than you can think of."

"I know," he said, looking slightly happier. "I'll always love you more than what I do," he added, his voice strong with his emotions. He stroked Luke's head tenderly and kissed his head that was already growing thick with blond hair. "Come," he murmured, hoisting the bag of seeds onto his shoulder and taking Padme's hand, "let's pick up Leia and go to our little orchard. I should start planting these seeds."

"What about Palpatine? I thought he was going to help you."

"Not today, he told me to use the force to help myself since he's busy organizing both of your 'extended leaves' from the Senate."

"Which means he's busy with normal work."

"Yes."

"Huh, I thought I was going to be free from work until this issue with the Jedi has been dealt with but I guess that that was too much to hope for," sighed Padme.

She had been so wrapped up in the happenings of the past month that she had forgotten that other people did not know about the Jedi and had neglected to take care of things in the Senate. Really, she was grateful that Palpatine was the Supreme Chancellor – he can take care of their excuses and get it done quickly with barely any questions.

They stopped outside the babies' room, right next to theirs down the left hand corridor, and Anakin set the sack down. He stepped lightly into the neutrally cream colored room and gently scooped the sleeping Leia from her cot while Padme waited by the door and then they strolled out the back door and through the emerald green fields and over rolling hills until they arrived at the orchard in the middle of their property.

* * *

Obi-Wan tapped his fingers on the control board in front of him nervously. It had taken him a few days to 'search' for his Padawan – just long enough to convince Yoda that he was doing his homework and coming up with nothing – and had then flown straight to Zeta where he knew Anakin would be. He had spent an entire day roaming around the countryside and reaching out with his senses and he had nearly missed Anakin's presence altogether despite his whole-minded concentration and now he was sitting in the cockpit debating over how to convince them that he had genuinely turned back to the light.

He shifted uneasily in his seat. Anakin and the Chancellor shouldn't be too hard to convince since they can also use the force but Padme…she was going to be the hard one. Her stubbornness and his past actions towards her and her husband would make sure that she would be mistrustful and doubtful but he hoped that once Anakin and the Chancellor had seen the truth that she would as well.

Then he suddenly remembered something: his conversation with Ruwee.

_Bantha crap! How could I forget such a thing? Better contact him now and give some news._

Obi-Wan wan felt guilt rising. How could he leave his friend worrying like that? He shook his head at himself and reached for his comm. link.

A troubled looking man appeared. "Obi-Wan! Do you have any news of my daughter?"

"Yes, Ruwee, I do. She is very well and she's just taking…a holiday from the Senate. She's safe, Ruwee, don't worry about her."

Still not looking very assured, Ruwee nodded stoically. "Do you know where she is?"

Obi-Wan grimaced to himself. _Time to tell another little lie_. "No, but I have contacted her and I _know _that she is well," he told Padme's father, using his tone to suggest force usage.

Ruwee seemed to get the message. "Thank you, Obi-Wan," he said gratefully.

"Of course, Ruwee, no problem."

They nodded respectfully to each other and ended their communication.

* * *

Ruwee pushed a button and retreated from the link in his house. His daughter's assurance had done next to nothing in quenching his worry for her even though he was happy that she was happy but doing something like this was _very_ unlike her – getting married in secret and taking spontaneous holidays without telling her family. Jobal and Sola had taken the news of her marriage well enough although they were disappointed that they weren't part of her special day. Obi-Wan's message had been more comforting. It's not that he didn't trust his daughter but Obi-Wan was a Jedi and he knew how to use the force. Ruwee scratched his chin. Perhaps he should check up on Padme once in a while. Sometimes he felt like the only one worrying about her.

* * *

It was nearly dusk when Obi-Wan, at last, climbed out of the cockpit decisively. In his mind, he had formed a basic plan on how to convince them about his situation but in truth, he would really just let the exchange lead him on what to say. He stepped onto the grass just inside of the fence around their property and clenched his fist together in trepidation. Gathering up his courage he forced his legs to move him forward in the direction of their house which was just four hills away.

As he climbed the first hill, he forged blindly on, not letting himself think in case he would turn tail and run back to his ship.

On the second hill, little doubts began to worm their way into his mind.

When he reached the third hill, hesitation started to set in and his pace slowed.

On the peak of the fourth hill, he stopped. Questions that had been chasing each other around in circles blared out in his head. Will they see the truth? How could he convince Padme? Would he be intruding on Anakin's life?

_Shut up,_ he told himself as he massaged his temples, _you best get it over with_.

He strode purposefully down the gentle slope to the house…and chimed the doorbell. He clasped his hands behind his back and waited nervously. He had been feeling very nervous lately and he did not like it much.

Laughter rang out of the house and moments later, the door slid open and he was face to face with Padme Amidala. The laughter and merriment on her face morphed into an expression of fear and dislike in a matter of split seconds. Her face darkened and she clutched a baby with a wisp if golden hair tighter against her body.

"No! Not you!" she gasped in horror as she recognized him.

"No, Padme, please, I…" Obi-Wan trailed off when the door slid shut with a final hiss in front of his face.

_Damn,_ he thought, _now what do I do?_

* * *

**A/N: There. I don't know a lot about raising little children do please don't kill me for getting their facts wrong and I will update sooner this time. Thank you!**


	18. Plans in Motion

**A/N: The scenes jump around quite a bit in this chapter (sorry) and the first part overlaps the ending of the last chapter.**

**A big thank you to all my reviewers and readers...nearly 100! Now, the story...**

* * *

Anakin's grin vanished from his face and was replaced by a frown of concentration and worry. He sensed something...a presence that was strangely familiar but changed, somehow. Exactly _who_ it was or _what_ had changed eluded him, remained frustratingly just beyond his grasp. Anakin glanced questioningly over to Palpatine who shrugged back at him. He could feel the older man focus with the force and he did the same. He reached out and explored with the force, probing here and there to try to find some answers.

Just as he was close to finding something, however, a gasp of horror came from the door and his control over the force slipped.

"No! Not you!" Padme's voice floated back to the two men.

They heard a man's muffled answer but they couldn't make out the words. Anakin and Palpatine glanced at each other in alarm and both were about to stand up when Padme rushed in looking pale and upset.

"Anakin, it's the Jedi! They've found us!" Her voice trembled with fear and she was close to blind panic.

Anakin picked Leia up from the floor and crossed the room in two long strides in one fluid movement.

"What? Who is it?" he asked in a low voice.

"Obi-Wan," she whispered. "I…I don't know if there are any more of them." She took a few deep breaths and seemed to calm down.

Anakin's brows knitted together and she could see premature frown lines beginning to develop on his forehead.

"Obi-Wan?" Anakin looked to Palpatine and the Sith nodded in answer to a silent question.

"I'll come with you," he added.

Anakin nodded and turned back to Padme. "Padme, you stay here with Luke and Leia, okay? We'll go see what Obi-Wan wants."

She nodded reluctantly.

"And if you hear us fighting then I want you and the babies to take the ship and run," added Anakin, looking away from her.

Anger flared in Padme's eyes at the suggestion and drew a breath to protest. "No! If you think that I'm going to – "

"Please Padme," Anakin pleaded, now staring intensely into her eyes.

"But if you – "

"I can take care of myself. I don't care if I die, but I can't bare the thought of you or our babies dying." He implored her to listen with his eyes.

Padme unwillingly backed down. "Have you ever thought of how I would feel if _you _died?" she asked, her eyes brimming with angry tears. Without another word, she took Leia from his arms and ran out the room. He stared after her in surprise and shock. Had he really been that insensitive?

"Come, Anakin," said Palpatine kindly, breaking the short silence that had developed.

Anakin looked torn. His head swiveled uncertainly from the direction in which Padme had disappeared to the direction of the front door.

"We can't keep him waiting," said Palpatine, striding forward and grasping Anakin by his arm and leading him to the front door. "You'll have time to talk to her later."

He let himself be dragged off.

* * *

Obi-Wan blinked at the door. _Force knows what I have to do know._ He folded his arms into his robes. _Maybe I should wait._ That was perhaps the best option since he didn't want to give them the impression that he was breaking into their house. _How long should I wait?_

His question was answered seconds later, when the door hissed open…and two bright blue blades swung out at him. Obi-Wan gave a low grunt and stumbled backwards, almost falling down the flight of stairs behind him before taking a force assisted leap down the treacherous steps. His own lightsaber flew into his hands and ignited red.

_Oops, maybe I should've brought my other saber_, he thought, his mind focusing on the least important thing that should be concerning him now.

"Please, wait! I didn't come here to fight…" he began, addressing the older Sith Lord who had leapt after him and was forcing him backwards.

"Then what did you come here to do?" hissed the old man without a break in concentration.

Anakin, Obi-Wan couldn't help noticing, was hanging back from the fight, just hovering around the pair as they fought, swinging his lightsaber around his wrist agitatedly.

_Does he sense that I have changed? Is that why he is hanging back?_

He turned his attention back to the blade wielding Chancellor with renewed vigor and hope. "I came here to help you defeat the Jedi," he said, ducking a blow before bringing his blade up to parry another. Palpatine's swing came down a little harder than he expected and he almost had a sizzling red blade of energy shoved into his face.

"Hey! Watch it!" he grumbled.

He could see the old man's eyebrows climb up a couple of rungs of wrinkles on his forehead.

"Now why would you want to do that?"

Too busy trying to block Palpatine's strikes, Obi-Wan blurted out the truth rather bluntly. "I've turned back to the light side," he said truthfully.

"How?" He could see that he had the Chancellor's attention now.

"I had a good long…thought, after my confrontation with Anakin and – " he broke off to stop a particularly vicious clout from the blue saber. " – and," he continued, "I realized that I have never truly turned to the dark side – used it power yes, but never seduced by it, abused it, or enjoyed it at all. I realized that I only acted as the council wished me too and I was too trapped in my grief and my guilt for what I did to my friend that I did not see them for what they really are until seven or eight days ago." He was quite proud that he managed that little speech in the middle of a battle at all.

A thought hit him.

_Can they sense that I'm telling the truth? Think I should let my mind shields down…_and so he did.

The Sith Lord's blows stopped momentarily and he jumped backwards, more than happy to put some distance between them.

"And we know that you're telling the truth, how?" Palpatine was closing the space in between them again, lightsaber held at the ready.

"You can sense it." _Or should be able to…_

"The dark side clouds everything," Palpatine threw back at him, a little irrelevantly.

_Ach! Is he testing me?_ Obi-Wan glanced over to Anakin, who was a few paces behind the Sith and received a wry smile in return.

"Fine, read my mind, then."

White eyebrows rose so high that they threatened to popped straight off his face completely. The Chancellor cautiously lowered his lightsaber as he thought.

"Alright." Obi-Wan mentally winced. What had he got himself into? "Give your blade to Anakin."

Obi-Wan looked down at his hand, powered down the red blade and happily threw it to his ex-Padawan who cuaght it deftly. He suddenly felt very vulnerable.

Palpatine's blade withdrew with a snappy hiss and was clipped back onto his belt. He walked forward, reaching out with both hands for his temples. Obi-Wan closed his eyes readied his mind.

* * *

Anakin watched the silent exchange between his Master and his ex-Master, or his Master and his Master. He believed Obi-Wan when he said that he had turned back to the light side. He never doubted that his Jedi Master was able to do it – he had just needed a couple of little pushes to point him in the right direction. He only hoped that Palpatine would see that Obi-Wan was telling the truth and would allow him to help them in their little 'war' against the Jedi.

Minutes ticked by and neither the Jedi nor the Sith was showing any signs of movement, still standing on the same patch of grass and squashing one or two sad-looking flowers. Anakin found his thoughts turn inevitably towards Padme and the argument they had earlier on. He squirmed guiltily. It was true that he had never thought about how she would feel if he had died. He really had been selfish, he thought ruefully.

"Well…" Anakin started slightly at the voice and turned to see Palpatine looking at Obi-Wan with a new respect on his face. "You certainly have proven yourself to be true. Come in and we will have a little chat about our tactics with you," said Palpatine, waving towards the door with a hand. "You know much more about the inner workings of the Jedi than Anakin or I do and your knowledge will certainly prove to be quite an asset to our battle."

Palpatine turned and climbed up the stairs, all the while gesturing for Obi-Wan to follow. He followed at a slower pace and found himself walking next to Anakin.

"Hello Master."

Obi-Wan smiled wanly. "I'm hardly your Master anymore, Anakin."

"No, Obi-Wan," corrected Anakin as they walked through the door, "you'll always be my Master as long as you work with the light. I'm glad you came back."

Obi-Wan smiled a little brighter this time, touched by Anakin's loyalty and confidence.

"Thank you," he said, gratefully patting him on the shoulder as they entered the living room area. He looked around the room with wide eyes.

Palpatine was already pouring his favorite wine from Naboo into three tall glasses to prepare for their 'little chat' which would most likely turn into a long, brain-tiring session on plans and the Jedi.

"Go sit, Master, I have something I need to do," said Anakin, gently pushing the curious Jedi on the back. "And tell the Chancellor I'll be along soon."

"Wha – " Obi-Wan mouth started to form the question but he stopped when he saw that his brother had already disappeared down another dimly lit passage to the left. He turned his mind to the present task. Right, so, a chat with the esteemed Chancellor…

* * *

Padme's fingers had turned white; she had been pressing down hard on them on the window sill for too long. She gritted her teeth in frustration and flexed her sore fingers. It wasn't that she was angry at Anakin as such; she was just incredibly frustrated with him and his disregard for his own life and what would happen to her and their children if he was gone…and she had spat that, or half of it, out at him in a burst of anger. Now she was standing at the elegant, rose window in their room with both Luke and Leia trying to figure out if she should apologize to him or not and what she would say. She rubbed at her temples with cramped fingers and then grimaced at their lack of warmth on her face. Her stubborn pride ordered her not to apologize to him but the loving and logical side urged her to say sorry and explain herself to him.

She banged her head softly against the cool glass and nearly yelped in panic as strong arms slid around her waist. She spun around and found herself looking at her husband. She slapped his arm lightly.

"Don't creep up on me like that, Anakin."

"Like what?" he asked innocently. She crossed her arms.

"Like you just did – silently and startling me," she answered crossly.

"I'm sorry," said a crestfallen Anakin, "did I make you angry again?"

Padme's heart melted in face of the lost-puppy look on her husband's face and sighed. Her loving, logical side had won.

"No, Ani," she sighed, "I'm sorry for going off at you like that; you were only trying to keep us safe." She uncrossed her arms and snuggled up against him.

He kissed the top of her head. "No, Angel, you were right."

She peeked up at him, demanding an explanation.

"It was selfish of me not to think about how my family would be if I died."

Padme nuzzled into his chest. "I love you, Ani," she sighed. "At least now you know," she added.

He pulled her tighter against him. "I love you, too, and Luke and Leia."

Her face relaxed into a smile. "I take it you frightened Obi-Wan away?"

"Well, err…"

She snapped her head up, suddenly anxious. "You mean 'no'? Is he still here? What is he doing here, Ani?! You know what he did to me!" she ranted.

"Shhh…hush, now Angel," he soothed, his hands stroking her back rapidly in time with her shallow breathing. "He's a friend."

Seeing the look on her face, he hastened to continue. "Palpatine and I had a little fight with him and he told us that he has turned back to the light and he consented to a mind read by Palpatine's insistence." He now pulled back from her a little and she could see happiness shining in his eyes and curving his lips. "It's true, Padme, he's not lying!"

She tried to be happy for him, but she couldn't just forget about his actions. Her smile came out weak and forced. Seeing this, Anakin let go of her waist and took her hand, pulling towards the door.

"Come, I'll take you to meet him!"

Before she could protest, she was already out the door, towed along by an enthusiastic husband.

* * *

"…a little less complicated theoretically but it would be much harder to execute…" the ginger-haired man trailed off as he saw tow figures emerge from the left-hand archway. "…but I'm sure we could pull it off…" he finished slowly as he recognized the pair.

His eyes slid from his former Padawan to the pretty brunette standing by his side. The Senator. He winced slightly at the dark, frightened gazes she was shooting at him. This was going to take some work.

He stood up and bowed politely to her as he had always done. "Padme, I – "

She silenced him with a withering look and he could have slapped himself. He had stupidly acted the way he did when he was in his fatherly façade. A tense silence followed as he stared at her helplessly and she stared at him with an unidentified emotion in her dark eyes.

_Yeech,_ he thought dully.

"Well," announced Palpatine, breaking the pregnant silence. "You arrived just in time to hear Obi-Wan's plan. Why don't you come in and sit down?" The last sentence was more like an order directed at Anakin, who turned to his wife and muttered a few words. Padme nodded reluctantly and both entered.

Padme, he couldn't help noticing, sat on the furthest chair away from him and watched his every move like a hawk, as if he would pull a lightsaber out of the blue and slice them all to pieces in mad, darkness induced rage.

"So, Obi-Wan, you were saying?" prompted the old man opposite him.

_I guess making amends will have to wait,_ he thought unhappily before focusing on the task at hand.

"Yes, I was saying to the Chancellor that my plan is less complicated than yours theoretically but it would be much harder to execute but I'm sure we can pull it off," he said, looking around at them. "It would also take less time to do and hopefully – if it works – it will also give us better trained fighters," he added.

"So what's your plan, Master?" asked Anakin, settling back comfortably into his cushiony armchair.

Obi-Wan told them…

…and an indignant sound, somewhat like a squeal but not quite, emitted from Padme.

"Steal Padawans from the Temple?! Are you trying to get us all killed? And if your plan doesn't work we will have wasted more valuable time!"

Anakin patted her knee absent-mindedly but the two Siths appeared thoughtful.

"How do you suggest we do this?"

"Well, uh, it would be better if I do this alone because I am not as conspicuous as you two but I will only be able to do this once – the Council will be alerted of my 'betrayal' after the first time and they would be more than happy to hunt me down if I set foot in the Temple again."

"But Senior Padawans? This is going to be harder than you say, Obi-Wan."

Obi-Wan grinned wickedly and pulled out a little bottle from his utility pouch. "Force inhibitors," he said, shaking it in front of them triumphantly. "It was made for you two, really, but now there's a better use for it."

"So you're going to go in and inject a handful of Padawans under their Masters' noses?" asked Padme skeptically.

"Yes," answered Obi-Wan, deliberating. "That's going to be the hard part and it has to be done with the right timing and it can only be done once."

"How long will this take?"

"That depends on the number of people you need. How many _do_ you need?"

Palpatine and Anakin glanced at each other and came to a silent agreement.

"Ten," stated Palpatine solemnly.

Obi-Wan raised an eyebrow.

"In case some of them don't join us," explained Anakin.

"I suppose," he murmured. "So we're going to do this then?"

The Siths glanced at each other again and the older one nodded. "Yes, it will save much time and we will have force sensitives with skill over their power."

"I will be off, then. Thank you for hearing me out," said Obi-Wan, ever the polite Jedi Master.

* * *

**A/N: I hope you followed my crazy scene changes OK. My excuse is I wrote this with a pounding headache ;)**

**The story is close to its end now, and time is going to fly past in the next few chappies.**

**PS. I like reviews...**


	19. Padawans

**A/N: Wow! 100 reviews! Thanks SO much to all of you who reviewed this little story - you're all wonderful!**

**Anyhow...the story...**

* * *

_2 months later…_

Obi-Wan stole along one dark passage of the Jedi Temple, sticking as close to the shadows as he possibly can while dragging ten blind-folded, chained and gagged Senior Padawans who were without the use of the Force behind him. He felt like a slave master – people he detested greatly - but he would exorcise the guilt from himself later; this was a very important mission and he could not afford to be distracted. Pausing at a corner, he felt the Padawans behind him bump and stumble into him. He quickly stole a glance around the corner.

_Just one more passage to go and we'll be at the hangar_, he encouraged himself.

"Good evening, Master Kenobi," murmured a pleasant voice. Obi-Wan jumped a foot into the air, jerking one of the Padawans as he did so. The boy grunted. "Might I ask what you are doing? And why did you miss tonight's Council meeting?" The pleasant tone turned menacing as Jedi Master Ki-Adi-Mundi materialized from the shadows by the opposite wall.

Obi-Wan composed himself and his brain quickly tried to come up with a plausible story. "Well, er, I am taking these Padawans on a training session," he managed, looking at the strange, grotesque lump on top of the Jedi's head instead of into his eyes. He had never been quite so tempted to squash it.

Ki-Adi-Mundi's eyebrows arched. "But _ten_ Padawans, Obi-Wan? You must be over-working yourself."

_I guess it wasn't plausible enough_, sighed Obi-Wan mentally. _Now it's fight or flight._

His lightsaber jumped to his hands and in the same instant, he tugged on the chain connecting the Padawans.

"Run!" he commanded them and took off down the last passage, legs straining as the stumbling Padawans slowed him down.

Clumsily, they started to run blindly in the direction they were being pulled in. Then Obi-Wan started to feel the chain being pulled in the other direction – back towards a pursuing Ki-Adi-Mundi. Glancing back over his shoulder, he discovered that some of the smarter youngsters had begun to take matters into their own hands. Baring his teeth in frustration, he exerted his will and roughly shoved them back in the right direction with the Force.

"Come on!" he roared at them and gave their chain another hard tug.

Their destination came into sight as they rounded another corner, boots thumping along the polished floor. Just then, Plo Koon's ugly head appeared at another entrance to the hangar and ran at them, intending to stop their journey toward the ship in the middle of the hangar.

Sparing a second, Obi-Wan sent a powerful Force shove at the Jedi who fell backwards and landed painfully on his coccyx. More Jedi poured in and Obi-Wan crammed his lightsaber back onto his belt, realizing that it would be useless to fight if he got caught. He skidded to halt as he reached the ship and reached out with a hand to slam the button that would open the hatchway. Unfortunately, he had forgotten about his entourage behind him. He gave a surprised grunt as ten bulky teenagers slammed into his back and he stumbled forward, hitting the button with his head instead of with his hands. Biting back a curse, he yanked them aboard and closed the hatchway before any of the others could run in. He hastily tied the Padawans to a railing as securely as he could and set course for Zeta Doradus.

* * *

A black speck shot across the clear, bright blue sky of Zeta Doradus and a screaming noise followed it, tearing apart the atmosphere. To the residents below, it sounded like nails being dragged relentlessly along the length of a ship, tormenting their poor ears. All activity in the market stopped as everybody lifted their heads, covered their ears and followed the strange object with their eyes until it disappeared behind the buildings. As one, they removed their fingers from their delicate ears, only to cringe when a dull boom shook the ground rather fiercely. Moments of silence followed as shocked faces looked at each other with wide eyes.

"Well," drawled the village idiot lazily, hefting his rucksack more firmly onto his shoulders and apparently forgetting about the incident, "I wouldn't fancy hitting the ground that hard now, would' ya?"

Minds still too numbed to reply, the rest of the market simply made fish faces at the man.

"I'll be off, now, then," the idiot said and continued on his way down the main path.

* * *

A violent earthquake made the entire mansion shiver, its occupants along with it. They had all heard the screeching noise, of course, but they were all too preoccupied to bother looking out a window but now they couldn't ignore it any longer.

"What's going on? What was that?" asked Padme breathlessly, having just ran from the upstairs bathroom to the living room after making sure that the babies were safely in their playroom.

"I don't know, but it seems as if the object that was causing the shriek has just landed in our backyard," replied Palpatine, calm and omniscient as ever.

"Obi-Wan," breathed Anakin, announcing his arrival from the kitchen. Instead of stopping to chat in the living room as the other two had, he carried on lurching through to the front door with the others following him. Their mouths dropped open at the sight that greeted them when Anakin opened the door.

A huge crater, some two hundred meters away from their porch had appeared in the midst of all the greenery. Smoke rose up from within as if anxious to escape the hole and there was a distinct smell of burning metal in the air.

"Oh dear…" said Palpatine.

"This looks bad," agreed the younger Sith.

Padme remained silent as all three of them ran towards the deep hole. Over the past two months, she had secretly harbored her doubts about Obi-Wan's intentions but had mentioned nothing of it to the two men, who had happily accepted Obi-Wan back into their lives. It was becoming clear to her that her doubts were about to be proven wrong, however. If Obi-Wan did indeed bring ten Senior Padawans to them, she would trust him wholeheartedly.

Anakin approached the lip of the crater carefully. "Oh Force," he muttered, pinching his nose as the smell of burning metal reached them.

"What's the matter?" she asked.

"It's deep," he stated matter-of-factly. "Some seven or eight meters, I'd say."

"And so?"

"I don't know if he survived," he replied, clearly distressed by that thought.

She squeezed his arm. "Why don't we go down there and find out?" she offered.

"No, no, Angel," he murmured. "The drop is too deep for you to go down without any cables. Palpatine and I will go down." He shot a questioning glance at the Sith Lord, who nodded.

"Okay, Ani, just don't take too long."

He hopped over the lip of the hole and used the Force to slow his descent; Palpatine followed straight after. An earthy smell enveloped the two men as they landed on top of the smoking metal object. Anakin scuffed the scorched metal with his boots.

"It's an escape pod."

"Something must have gone wrong," muttered the Chancellor to himself. "Gravely wrong."

"Let's see if we can create a doorway," suggested Anakin, unclipping his lightsaber from his belt.

"Be careful," warned Palpatine, "don't thrust it in too far; we don't want to hurt the occupants."

Giving a nod to indicate that he had heard, Anakin thrust the saber blade into the metal and made an uneven circle with it. He then pulled it out with the Force and he peered inside once the thick metal plate was out of the way.

"Air cushions," he observed quietly and then touched the material with his weapon. There was a hiss as the compressed air escaped and the cushions crumbled as they deflated.

Both men gingerly jumped into the cramped space inside, careful not to step on anything organic looking as it might turn out to be a hand, or a face, or other sensitive body parts. A low groan drew their attention to one dark recess in the far corner of the little pod and they hurried over to the sound as quickly as they could while picking their way through the internal debris. There was another groan, followed by some muffled shuffling as they drew near. Palpatine carefully peeled back some of the white, cushiony material and drew in a sharp breath. Lying in front of them, with a bloody face, was...

"Obi-Wan!" exclaimed Anakin. "By the Force, you're a mess…" he commented as he looked his Master over with a critical eye.

Obi-Wan's concussed looking eyes focused on them blearily and his lips curled up in a smile as he recognized who they were.

"Thanks," he croaked, his words slurring slightly. "Another happy landing."

Anakin snorted. "Yeah, very happy," he echoed sarcastically. "You must have banged your head pretty hard."

Obi-Wan wheezed out a laugh. "'Twas a rough ride, Padawan, a rough ride." And then he lost consciousness.

"Come on, let's find everybody and take them up to the house," said Palpatine. He bent down and began tearing out the air cushion material methodically.

* * *

One hour later, the Skywalker family and the Chancellor had eleven extra and unconscious people stuffed into their lounge, taking up both sofas and three quarters of the carpeted floor. The captive Padawans were still chained (Anakin thought it unwise to let them free, despite Padme's protests) but they had their blindfolds and gags removed and their superficial wounds attended to. The conscious people (excluding the twins, who were sleeping in their room) had to make do with the last, spacious quarter they were left with. Perhaps it was a good thing that Palpatine had decided to buy a big house after all.

Anakin sighed as he sat back against the wall and stretched his long limbs out in front of him, his foot nearly prodding the sleeping boy before him. Obi-Wan's arrival in such a manner had only raised more questions and worries: What had happened during the two months he was away? Why did he crash in such a manner? And more importantly: did the Jedi cause the crash? And do they now know where they have hidden for so long? The young Sith knew that these questions can only be answered once his Jedi Master was awake so he ordered them in an orderly fashion, to be fired out in quick succession once they could be answered, and stowed them away in a nook in his mind for later. However, without those thoughts chasing each other around in his head, he soon became bored and impatient. His fingers drummed out a rapid rhythm on the carpeted floor.

"Anakin, why don't you go and tend your crops?" suggested Palpatine, sensing his friend's impatience. "I'll keep watch over them and call you as soon as they awaken."

"They're trees, not crops," he muttered automatically but he got up to his feet anyway. "You'd better not interrogate them without me," he added before he left via the back door to tend to his blossoming fruit orchard.

* * *

Obi-Wan slowly surfaced through the darkness once again and immediately, he was made aware of all the little complaints his body had – the splitting headache, the little bruises and burning muscles. He squeezed his eyes together tighter, as if he could trap the receding darkness behind his eyelids and return to its welcoming unfeeling-ness. Needless to say, that didn't work.

With a small, resigned sigh, he relaxed his muscles and called on the Force to soothe away his pains before sitting up unsteadily and opening his eyes to blurry vision. A hazy face appeared in front of his and pulled back his eyelids, much to his protest. He pulled back sharply and soon regretted it as pain snaked up through his brain.

"Aaaah," he moaned and then looked up at the face, blinking several times to clear his vision. "Oh, it's you, Chancellor."

Palpatine smiled at him. "How are you feeling today?"

He considered for a moment before replying. Really, he had had worse awakenings than this one so he shrugged. "Not too bad," he muttered.

His companion's eyebrows quirked up a bit. "You took quite a beating in your fall," he commented, looking meaningfully at his head.

He reached up and his fingers were met with a spongy gauze bandage. He let out a small growl at the item, making it clear that it wasn't welcome on his head, but the bandage just remained silent.

Suddenly Obi-Wan had a mad urge to laugh – he was talking to a _bandage_ and expecting it to answer? He spluttered for a while before he managed to contain his overpowering urge to laugh. Maybe he _is_ suffering from brain damage – he's certainly acting as if he is. A silly grin spread itself across his face and he found himself grinning stupidly at the Chancellor.

_What is wrong with you today?! _Obi-Wan yelled at his brain. _Why am I acting like this?! _He rubbed a hand over his jaw, smoothing out the muscles that insisted on pulling the corners of his mouth upwards and he smile disappeared.

"Well, I suppose I still need a few days to fully recover," he conceded when he saw Palpatine looking at him with a strange look on his face – the kind of look that says 'are you okay? You don't seem quite right in the head.' "Did the Padawans make it through alright?" he continued, pretending not to take notice of the look.

"Yes, they're all fine, just unconscious."

Obi-Wan nodded, satisfied that his charges were okay (and that his body seemed to be under control again). "Just remember to give them some of this every couple of hours or they'll alert the Jedi to our whereabouts." He reached into his tunic pouch and drew out three more bottles of Force inhibitor serum.

Palpatine nodded affirmative just as Anakin burst in through the doors, with Padme in tow.

"Obi-Wan!" exclaimed Anakin delightedly, "How are you feeling?"

"Not too bad," he repeated. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the Chancellor hide a smile. "How has your family been, Anakin, Senator Amidala?" he asked, smiling at them and nodding politely to Padme. He didn't think that it would be appropriate to call her by her name, now that she knew his character from before his epiphany had been an complete bogus.

To his surprise, the Senator smiled at him warmly. "They're very well, thank you, Obi-Wan. The twins are growing up quickly, and please call me Padme, like you used to."

He blinked at her, a little taken aback by her change in demeanor. Had she really changed her opinion of him in such a short time? He smiled sadly; she really shouldn't have changed her opinion of him so quickly, especially since he had lied to her and tried to kill her husband. "Thank you, Padme," he said. Then his smile twisted a little. "I take it that I have been forgiven, then?"

Uncertainty flashed across her face for an instant but then it was gone and she looking firmly into his eyes. "Yes," she said decisively, "you have."

"Thank you," he said simply.

"So are you ready to tell us your story?" Anakin butted in impatiently.

Obi-Wan chuckled. "I see country life has done nothing to teach you patience, Anakin," he quipped.

His old Padawan looked mortified while Padme's smile grew wider and looked as if she was about to burst out with laughter. "Just get to it, will you?" he grumbled.

"Right," he sighed, leaning back into the couch and folding his hands across his lean stomach, just making himself comfortable for a session of story telling.

His small audience navigated their way around the bodies that lay silently on the floor to the sofa that stood opposite him and sat down in front of it (two Padawans were occupying the couch), leaning forward in anticipation.

"Right," he said again and cleared his throat. He fixed his eyes on a spot above their heads and began to tell his story.

"I went back to Coruscant after I left you two months ago to report back to Yoda. I told Yoda that I had searched high and low and you weren't anywhere to be seen and he was livid, outraged, and he punished me." Obi-Wan's face changed to one of anger and semi-forgotten pain, as if he was reliving his moments as he told his story to them.

"It was the longest he has ever punished me for. The little green monster kept telling me that I was useless, worthless and continued to shoot Force lightning out of his claws. I don't know why he didn't kill me right there and then, but I think he had his suspicions that something was going on within me; that I wasn't quite the same. Nevertheless, he let me go but he let other Masters take my 'mission' and I had nowhere to go but to stay at the Temple." His grim expression turned into a melancholy and slightly mischievous smile.

"Well, he didn't know that that was exactly what I wanted – to stay at the Temple with a good reason, so I stayed and started to closely scrutinize the Senior Padawans who were there. Of course, I knew that the ones I had chosen wouldn't always be there and after a month, I had made a list of twenty of the best Padawans and their Masters. Now I just had to wait until ten of them were at the Temple at the same time and I got my chance a week ago, when most of the Masters who were searching for you came to report to Yoda. That night, I skipped the Council meeting and combed the Temple for the listed Padawans. I injectede them with some Force inhibitor as I found them and blind-folded them, gagged them and cuffed them together and then dragged them to the hangar." Obi-Wan stopped to moisten his lips.

"On the way to the hangar, by that last corridor, you know Anakin, Ki-Adi-Mundi found me with the ten Padawans. He didn't believe the story I told them, of course, so I fled to the hangar. By then, most of the Masters have been alerted to what I was doing and Plo Koon and, uh, Aayla Secura, I think, came rushing to the hangar but we made it to the ship and escaped. But the Jedi got into _their_ ship and came straight after us. I managed to make the jump into hyperspace before they could follow us and all was fine until we jumped out of hyperspace. A clone ship happened to pass us and they must've been told about the situation because they started to shoot at our ship. Fortunately I had the shields up but we were very close to Zeta by then so I had to think of a plan to lead them away _and_ arrive here with the Padawans. So I changed our course to lead them to one of the Outer Rim planets and got into the escape pod with the younglings. Then I ejected all the escape pods so the clones wouldn't know which one we were in. Unfortunately, one of their guns caught our pod. The shot only grazed us but it caused enough damage to send us hurtling down to the ground…and the rest you know. I was a little delayed at deploying the air cushions so we were knocked around for a while before we had protection. That's how I got this…" Obi-Wan fingered the bandage on his head.

A short silence followed and his gaze flickered to his audience who were still staring at him in fascination. _Probably still processing my story_, he reflected, _or maybe they haven't realized that I have finished my narration._

Then a low wail washed over the silence that had befallen the four companions and their attentions snapped to the source of the noise. One of the Padawans on the ground convulsed and held his head in his hands. The teen emitted another wail of pain and then hauled himself into a sitting position on his haunches, burying his head in his knees.

Padme was next to the boy in a flash, holding his shoulders and comforting him. The three men just edged closer to the Padawan and stood watching. Eventually the boy lifted his head up and looked around, his confusion plain on his face.

"Where am I?" he rasped croakily, looking around at the people that surrounded him.

"How are you feeling?" asked Palpatine.

A slight shudder passed through his body. "I feel cold…as if…almost as if something is missing…"

The three men exchanged a worried look. "Do you know…what is missing?" ventured Anakin. Surely the boy knew…

He shook his head forlornly. "I don't feel that great," he whispered.

Now the three of them were wearing frowns. "What is your name, Padawan?" asked Obi-Wan, a look of concern in his eyes.

The young man opened his mouth as if to answer but then paused, a look of deep concentration written across his face. Then the concentration changed to panic. "I – I don't remember!" he cried, swinging his head to look at all of them, his eyes begging them to tell him his name. "I don't remember my name!"

"Oh Force," breathed Obi-Wan tiredly, "he's lost his working memory."

* * *

**A/N: Oh dear...well, I couldn't resist making the poor lad lose his memory :P so he lost it. Reviews are most welcome.**

**And since I'm not very good at coming up with names, I would appreciate it if you suggest one or two names in you review as well - I need them for the Padawans.**


	20. Padawans Awaken

**A/N: Wowee! Thank you SO very much for all the reviews! Special thanks to** _Black Evee Fan, Darth KenObi-Wan, Sword Master Z, MMM73181, Andrea Foxx and new age experiment_** who suggested names - they really helped me a lot! The names I come up with - pft! Maybe I should consult you guys every time I need a new name. ;D**

**Sorry this chapter took so long. Life got in the way, anime got in the way, magic got in the way, basically everything got in the way, so ya, I hope you didn't mind the wait.**

* * *

"You mean he can not remember anything?" demanded Palpatine sharply. "Not even his training?"

Padme threw a dirty look in his direction. _Is that what the man thinks of all the time? _she thought disgustedly, _not even a question about the poor boy's health!_

"Training? What training?" mewed the boy, now more confused than ever. "Who am I?"

"Shhh," she soothed him as Obi-Wan answered Palpatine's question, completely ignoring the Padawan on the floor.

"I don't know, but if he doesn't, his body should remember the movements relatively quickly anyway, especially since he has the Force to help him along."

"The Force…? I think I remember something…there's something about that word…" mused the Padawan thoughtfully, trying very hard to break through the walls surrounding his memories.

"What do you remember, boy?"

"I-I don't know. That word just sounds…no – feels – so familiar," the boy replied, now becoming plainly distressed.

"Come on, Padawan, try harder to remember!" urged Obi-Wan.

The boy's face screwed up with effort but then clutched his head and rocked backwards and forwards when nothing resurfaced.

"You have to – " began Anakin, also beginning to prod the boy. That, you will see now, was a mistake.

Padme snapped. _Men!!_ _They're all the same! _thought Padme, now quite incensed. Coming to a snappy decision, she stood up abruptly, still keeping a hand on the boy's shoulder.

"That's enough!" she declared hotly. "You will not help him regain his memory by interrogating him _especially_ when he has just suffered severe trauma by your _expert _piloting!" she said vehemently, narrowing her eyes at poor Obi-Wan.

He opened his mouth to protest his innocence but decided that it would be wiser if he kept quiet after seeing the wrath in her eyes so he clicked his teeth together and shut his mouth. Instead, he just shrugged his shoulders defensively and pointed to his bandaged head to make his point.

Padme glared at her husband, who instantly backed down, ducking his head. Lastly, she turned to stare icily at Palpatine, who much to his credit (as it is never wise to incur Padme's wrath), returned her stare with as much ice. She gave a faint snort of disgust, helped the boy up to his feet and led him to a one of the many spare bedrooms in the house, talking to him gently all the way.

Left to their own devices now, the three men exchanged an ashamed look and quiet descended upon them.

"Well, ahem," said Anakin, clearing his throat, finally breaking the gloomy silence. "That was pretty well handled," he stated.

Palpatine simply sat down and stroked his chin thoughtfully at this unforseen event.

"It was?" inquired Obi-Wan.

Anakin nodded and his Master tsk-tsked under his breath.

"What happens when the situation _isn't_ well handled?" he asked innocently, sitting himself down next to Palptine and leaning back with his hands behind his head.

Anakin cleared his throat again. "Well…erm…we end up shouting at each other…and…she usually wins."

Obi-Wan's top half catpulted forwards onto his knees as a snort exploded from him. He desperately and unsuccessfully tried to keep a straight face. His smile turned into a grin, his grin turned into a chuckle, his chuckle turned into gales of laughter, and the gales of laughter made tears stream down his face. Anakin frowned at him and pouted a little.

"It's not that funny, Kenobi," he sulked, calling his Master by name. Someday, he would look back to this day and wonder why he was acting so childishly but it hasn't occurred to him yet that he _was_ acting like a child.

"Ah, but Anakin," Obi-Wan forced out between bouts of laughter, "it _is_ very funny! To think…to think that somebody so powerful like you can be bested by a…by a…by a politician of all people!"

His howls of mirth soon changed into a howl of pain when his Padawan punched him hard in his ribs.

"Ahh! What was that for!?" he yelled as his head was pulled back by his hair.

"Obi-Wan," said Anakin seriously, peering around the bandaged head, "I think you need to lie back down. That blow to your head looks quite nasty _and_ you're acting strangely."

"No, I don't need to lie down!" he objected firmly. "What were you thinking of anyway? Getting married to a politician. You know that she…"

Meanwhile, on the couch, Palpatine watched the brotherly pair in silent amusement.

* * *

She could feel the warmth of the Force finally returning to fill the empty cold left by the effects of the Force inhibitor Master Kenobi had injected her with. She was terribly confused – why did he do this to her? She knew that she wasn't alone; she could faintly sense other Padawans nearby. What were the Master's ulterior motives? Her mind rifled through all the reasons she could think of, even the unlikely ones.

Was he some sort of renegade? Did he plan on holding them hostages against the Jedi? She would never have thought that someone as kindly-looking as Master Kenobi could be a renegade but that thought presented some problems. With only a small percentage of her Force capacity, she couldn't tell if the others were awake yet and in this weakened state, she could hardly take on Master Kenobi alone anyway but...she could call out to her Master.

She allowed a small smile to manifest itself onto her otherwise empty face. First, she would extend her senses and investigate her surroundings before she called out. It would be easier for Master Secura to find her if she had some information of her own whereabouts. She reached out with her mind, pushing vainly against the restraints the inhibitors have caused. She was unsurprisingly unsuccessful.

_Damn it, I shall have to try later. _She bit the insides of her cheeks to stop herself from jumping up and screaming in frustration right there and then.

_A while later…_

Now infused with the warmth of the Force, she was confident that the inhibitors had worn off enough to allow her to communicate with her Master. She reached out with her mind again.

_Master…?_

There was no answer. She frowned. Why wouldn't her Master answer her? They had always answered each other's calls on the first call unless...unless something had also happened to her Master? Not giving up, she tried again.

_Master…? Help me! I've been taken by Master Kenobi._

When she still received no answer, she became concerned and delved into the Force to investigate this further. She probed deeper into their Master-Padawan bond and discovered a blockage. This alarmed her greatly as it was something she had never experienced ever before in the bond they shared. Master Secura was always open with her. _Has_ something happened to her Master as well? She pushed against the blockage experimentally and felt a brief flash of triumph when she felt a slight break in it. However, that euphoria was short lived, for what she sensed next was more than shocking.

A burst of anger and hatred flowed from the little crack she had created, imbued with the Dark side that was so prominent that it was almost tangible. For a moment, all she could feel was surprise and shock.

_Iska!_ It was her Master's voice, but it sounded warped and dark; nothing like the loving, passive voice she was used to. _Where are you!?_

Iska recoiled, shocked, confused and sad. Tears began to fill up behind her closed lids and her breathing was coming a little shorter. What was this? What had happened to her Master? Her mind and her senses staggered with what she had sensed from her kind Master; with the evidence that she was expected to believe in.

_No! Who are you?_ She mind-whispered hoarsely at Master Secura before withdrawing from their bond and blocking her Master out. A sob bubbled up from her throat, threatening to rip free.

* * *

Satisfied that Obi-Wan was once again down on the couch asleep, Anakin lifted a foot and stepped towards that little spare, unoccupied space where he could sit. Suddenly, his foot caught on something.

"Ungh!" he grunted as he sprawled onto the carpeted ground, his long limbs flying everywhere. He gritted his teeth and was about to whip around to reprimand Obi-Wan (honestly, that man is sometimes like a kid) when a pair of slippered feet appeared before his eyes. He peered up at his wife sheepishly before climbing up to his feet.

"Ahem…he tripped me," he said by way of explanation, pointing back to the innocently sleeping Obi-Wan.

Padme was about to retort when a sudden, anguished scream filled the room.

"Noooo! Who are you! What is happening?"

There was a briefest of pauses as everyone conscious in the room located the source of the scream. Even Obi-Wan abandoned his fake-sleep act. They all turned to one of the human Padawans Obi-Wan had brought them.

The girl in front of them was clutching at her bright red hair and covering her face with her hands. All three Force sensitives in the room could sense her distress and devastation as clearly as if it were their own.

"Why am I here?" she asked them, lifting her head slightly to glance at them out of the corner of her eyes. "Why are we here?"

* * *

In the Room of a Thousand Fountains, Yoda was throwing a fit, his Force strength was so strong that it had already broken several hundred fountains and other water features in the vast room.

_Ten Padawans! Gone, they have!_ His thoughts were heard by Force sensitives throughout the galaxy. He bent down and tossed a large chunk of fountain at the wall, throwing it with all his strength.

Finally, panting hard and having exhausted his anger induced adrenaline, Yoda composed himself and picked his gimmer stick up from the dusty ground. He took one last glance around the destruction he had caused before limping out and leaving the cleaning up to the droids that were already arriving.

_Underestimated you badly, I have. But cause nothing your stunt will, Kenobi, and if find you, I ever do, you will be killed by me…painfully but...what plans do you have?...sense something in the Force I do..._

* * *

"What's your name?" asked Padme kindly while approaching the girl slowly.

"Iska," she answered, sensing that would be able to trust this woman. Come to think of it, the woman's face looked quite familiar – as if she had seen her before sometime on the Holonet…one of the Senators perhaps? Politics is all she watches on the Holonet, so that's likely. She stared intently at her face. Yes, she has definitely seen her around…and her name was…it was…that's it!

"Senator Amidala?"

Padme looked at her, surprised, and read the question behind the question.

"Yes, it's me."

"Why did you take me here?"

Iska saw her glance behind her at the three others in the room. One of them stood forward – Master Kenobi.

"I think you know why, Iska."

"What? I don't understand…"

"Think of what you sensed from your Master."

Iska stared back at him impassively. So he knows about that? "What about it?"

The Master in front of her held her blank gaze steadily and openly. "You know that the Jedi are Dark. You can feel it if you sense it carefully enough; you felt it when you tried to contact Master Secura."

Her breath hitched and her fingers curled tightly into her hands. "So…what I sensed was…real?"

Everyone in the room nodded and her eyes filmed with tears.

"H-how do you know it isn't just Master Secura?" she choked.

"Because," explained Obi-Wan patiently, "I was once a Dark Jedi myself and I saw the extent of Yoda's evil."

"Master Yoda," Iska corrected automatically, her voice thick with emotion.

"You have a decision to make," stated Obi-Wan briskly, "after we show you the evidence of what we claim."

"Evidence? If you have evidence, why don't you just present it to the Senate and let them arrest the Jedi? Why are you capturing Padawans?"

"Young one," said Palpatine interrupting Obi-Wan as he was about to speak.

"Chancellor?!"

"Yes, it is me. You are not thinking clearly after this shock, you need to clear your mind and let your emotions out into the Force. Do you really think that the Senate has a chance against all the Masters of the Council?"

"The Clone Army –" began Iska.

"– is under Yoda's control," finished Palpatine. "We will explain more of our situation to you once we have shown you our evidence."

Iska's shoulders drooped a centimeter or two and she merely nodded her head.

Anakin, whose disappearance was not noted by anyone, suddenly reappeared again, carrying a haversack over his shoulders. He handed the bag to Palpatine. The Chancellor opened it and took out the ancient Sith holocron, the data disk with the message and the datapad that contained the plans for the Death Star and put them down on the floor while Iska watched on with interest.

"This," said Palpatine, picking up the holocron, "is an ancient Sith holocron that contains information of how the Jedi blamed the Sith for their crimes against the Galaxy. You can watch it after we have finished discussing the rest of the evidence." He handed it to her and she took it with a frown, bewildered but holding onto her questions for the time being.

Palpatine picked up the datapad next and activated it. A hologram of the moon-like machine popped up. Iska leaned in forward and started to examine the hologram.

"What is it?"

"It is an enormous machine called the Death Star that Yoda commissioned. It will not yet be completed for another four to five years but when it is, it will have enough firepower to destroy a whole planet with a single blast."

The red-head looked up at him in horror. "You mean, Master Yoda will use it to…to take over the world or something?" _Preposterous,_ she thought.

"Yes. Yoda is planning to take over first the Republic with blackmail and then the other worlds using this machine," Palpatine clarified and Iska gasped in shock.

"No, he wouldn't…" she gasped, aghast. _Maybe not so preposterous...?_

Palpatine shook his head sadly. "I wish, but this recorded message between Windu and Yoda should confirm it for you," he said and reached for the data disk and inserted it into the datapad. The unmistakable recorded voice of Mace Windu came alive.

"_Master, our plans are going according to schedule," he said._

_An evil chuckle emitted from the datapad. "Goood, Windu. How much longer until the project is finished?"_

_Windu swallowed audibly, obviously nervous about the information he was about to give. "Four to six years, my Master."_

_There was a moment of silence. Mace shuffled a little. _

"_Six years, you say?"_

"_Yes, Master, four to six ye – "_

_An agonized scream ripped through the speakers. "AND YOU SAY THAT WE ARE ON SCHEDULE?!"_

"_AAAAAAAAHHH! It was the schedule, Master!" Mace's words sounded forced._

"_SIX YEARS UNTIL THE REPUBLIC IN MY HANDS IS?!"_

_There was no response from Windu._

"_YOU FOOL!"_ _Yoda bellowed. "Six years is un accept –" _His words were cut off as the recording came to an end.

"The recording ends there," stated Palpatine as he peered at Iska, gauging her reaction.

Her mouth was hanging slightly open and her eyes wide and bright with tears.

"Are…are you sure it couldn't ha-have been faked?" she asked in a small voice.

Everyone shook their heads and she looked to the ground, letting her bright red hair fall in front of her face to hide her tears.

"Yo-You mean I…we've…been trusting…that we've misplaced our trust in Master Yoda?"

Anakin and Obi-Wan nodded their heads with empathy. They themselves had made the same mistake and Anakin was just lucky enough to escape the clutches of Yoda's long evil fingers.

"You don't have to decide now," Obi-Wan said softly as he crouched next to her. He took the holocron and presented it to her. "Take this and watch it. We'll give you two days to think upon this matter before you must decide if you want to stay with us to fight back against the Jedi or if you want to go back to the Temple and pretend that this never happened."

She nodded and plucked the holocron out of his hands without a word of protest.

"But for now," continued Obi-Wan, taking out a hypodermic needle, "we need to disable you."

Before Iska could begin to understand what he meant, he slipped the needle into the back of her neck and pushed the Force inhibitor serum into her neck.

Just then, as the serum began to take effect on her, another strangled scream pierced through the room and one of the other Padawans jerked awake.

* * *

Iska sighed in resignation as her senses started to dim with the lack of the Force. The nice woman, Padme, had unchained her and took her to a spacious, room where she was to stay. The room wasn't all too bad, but there was a distinct lack of windows in the room and so artificial lighting was used. Iska did not like artificial lighting.

_At least there is a fresher,_ she thought dully as she plopped herself down onto the ground and activated the holocron. She watched, with a mixture of horror and fascination, as the ancient story slowly unfolded before her eyes.

* * *

_Two days later…_

"So, what have you all decided?" Palpatine asked the nine scruffy-looking Padawans in front of him.

Five Padawans – Iska, two female Twi'leks named Resee and Illia, a boy named Mekel and a Kel Dor, Te'rra stood up and banded together in one group, standing slightly away from the rest so there was an obvious rift between them.

"We will join," said Iska strongly, speaking for the group. "We have discussed the evidence you showed us and we have concluded that, with what we sensed from our Masters, the fact that the Jedi are Dark is undeniable." She raised her chin by a fraction and looked down at the other four sitting Padawans as if daring them to disown their little band. Two of them glared back at her, no doubt thinking of them as 'traitors' but the other two still looked undecided.

"Thank you," said Palptine. Then, sensing their turmoil, he turned his attention to the two that couldn't decide. "Are you sure you do not want to join us?"

They looked at each other before looking back to him and shrugging their shoulders.

"You know what we told is the truth…you can sense it with the Force."

Well hidden emotions now flickered across their faces clearly – this would be the most difficult choice they would have to make in their lifetimes. Suddenly, Xzander stood up resolutely and said, "I will join too."

A few moments later, the girl who was next to him, Reven, climbed to her feet and joined the group silently.

The Chancellor bowed his head and looked at the two remaining Padawans on the floor.

"Are you sure about your choice, Padawans?"

The two nodded fiercely.

"Very well," said Palpatine softly. "Obi-Wan, if you will."

Obi-Wan obliged by pulling out yet another needle and slurped up some inhibitor liquid. The two Force-deprived Padawans could only watch on helplessly as they were injected with the fluid yet again.

"You know, it is true," Obi-Wan whispered to them. "I was one of them once."

He only received death glares for his efforts and he sighed. "Alright, then, you will be blindfolded and taken to a ship that will take you back to Coruscant. You will be blindfolded throughout the entire journey and a droid will be piloting your ship," he rapped out their fate to them and then grinned. "Hope you have a safe journey. Hup!"

* * *

Padme watched as Obi-Wan applied the blindfolds and the cuffs.

"It's a pity they didn't want to come with us," she sighed sadly as Obi-Wan marched the two out clone trooper-style. "At least now we have eight more people willing to fight for us."

"Eight?" asked Anakin absently. "I only count seven."

"Yes, eight including the one who lost his memory. What shall we call him?"

"Oh, him. Well, we will still train him but I don't know if he will be of much help and he may not want to join us once he regains his memory," he moped pessimistically.

"And a name?" she repeated

"Dulla Kerr."

"That was quick. Where did you get a name like that?"

"Random name generation. I just made up a bunch of syllables that sounded like a name and gave it to him."

"It's a name, Ani, it should be special and carefully thought about. It shouldn't just be some 'random' thing that popped into your head," said Padme disapprovingly.

"What? It only temporary," he whined.

His wife heaved another sigh and they turned their attention back to Palpatine who was drilling their new daily routine into the new additions to their household – what time to wake up, their training times, basic house rules, lessons with Obi-Wan about the Jedi etc. etc.

"…okay, now you are free to orientate yourselves and get used to this house. A room will be given to each of you and we will begin training tomorrow," finished Palpatine.

All seven nodded and split into two groups (girls and boys) and started to wander through the house like lost ghosts.

* * *

"There is a message from Secura," announced Master Windu to the little green alien in the room.

"Wait, can it not?" snapped Yoda irritably.

Not daring to contradict him, Windu launched straight into the message contents. "She has come into contact with her kidnapped Padawan. She claims she only sensed her faintly and that her Padawan is somewhere in the mid-rim. She suggests possible usage of Force inhibitors."

This caught Yoda's attention and he straightened. "Mid-rim, eh?"

Before he could say another word, another Temple messenger skidded to a halt next to Mace, panting heavily.

"Master Yoda, Master Mundi, Master Gallia and Master Koon have just received word from their Padawans. They say that they sensed the Padawans in the mid-rim but they do not know their exact location!"

"Know that, I do," growled Yoda. "And tell all the Masters that know this, I do, so alert me to this matter, they do not!"

"Yes, Master!" said the messenger and he ran off again.

As soon as he was gone, Yoda let out an evil cackle. "Mid-rim, eh, Obi-Wan?" His narrowed. "Find you, I will, and get my revenge, I shall!"

* * *

**A/N: That's chapter 20! Feedback is always very welcome...I like feedback...and strawberries...Click the button! Thank yyyooouu!**


	21. Found and Lost

**A/N: Hi! Many thanks again to those who reviewed - you're the best and I love you all!**

* * *

_Two weeks later…_

Slip, slide, twist, swing.

Anakin's lightsaber sizzled through the air as he paced through his exercises. He was getting a rare day off from his training sessions with the younglings from the Temple and he had to admit that they were really, really good. He was actually beginning to believe that they are going to have a chance against the Masters now.

Slip, slide, twist –

"Master Skywalker!"

-stab. Anakin shook his sweaty hair out of his eyes and twisted around to see who had so rudely interrupted his training.

"Mekel," he sighed with a hint of annoyance. This boy had proven to be more troublesome than the others – a natural poltergeist – but today he seemed quite genuinely flustered. "What is it, now?"

"It's the Jedi! They're in the village market asking questions on our whereabouts," he replied. His eyes held a certain uncertainty that indicated that he was not yet ready to come face to face with the people who had perhaps betrayed him and his fellows.

Anakin let out a string of curses in Huttese, followed by another that made Mekel cringe. "How did they find us?" he growled.

He was also not quite keen on them meeting as he was not sure which side the Padawans would choose to take should the Jedi Masters make an attempt to convert them back into Jedi-ness. And it would mean trouble for him and his family as well. And that would be a _very _bad thing.

"Apparently they have been searching the entire mid-rim for us. They must have sensed something…" he trailed off.

"Do we know how many Masters there are?"

"Two."

"Who?" He switched his lightsaber off and jammed it back onto his omnipresent belt that secured his black Jedi tunic around the waist.

"Master Tiin and Master Secura, according to R2."

"Oh…" Without another word, Anakin strode out of the vast stone room that served as a training room when the weather wasn't nice. Mekel trailed after him, trying to clear his mind from his worries and concentrate on the present.

* * *

"What is it?"

"Negative," came Mace Windu's voice from the other side of the comm. unit.

Only letting out a frustrated, grating sound from his throat as an answer, Yoda broke contact.

"Where are you, Kenobi?" he scowled at the empty air in front of him while tapping his claws on his stick.

* * *

"Anakin, the Jedi are proceeding to check on all the residences on Zeta - R2 has been keeping us informed," Palpatine greeted him with bad news. "Plan A or Plan B?"

A conference had been called in the Skywalker residence, filling up the living room to debate their course of action in face of this new threat. They all pretty much knew how the Jedi found out about them living on the mid-rim.

"Huh?" murmured Illia softly, the two tentacles on the back of her head wobbling slightly. "What plans?"

Illia was a gentle creature and a pacifist. She disliked any form of fighting – whether verbal or physical – and was often the one who kept everyone on peaceful terms with one another. Being the way she was, her negotiating skills were also extremely polished and therefore got on very well with Obi-Wan, who had only recently discovered the more temperate side of himself.

"Can you all hide your Force signatures well?" inquired Obi-Wan.

"Illia asked you a question so answer her first!" came the biting voice of Resee, who seemed to be in a perpetual bad mood. She had a hot temper and was often at odds with Obi-Wan, who couldn't seem to control her no matter how hard he tried.

The ex-Jedi Master sent her a death glare which she returned with added fire.

"I was going to tell you after you have answered my question," replied an irritable Obi-Wan. "You should really learn about respecting your elders."

"Why should I respect you if you don't respect us?"

"Resee, it's okay. Don't pick a fight without reason," Illia's calming voice tried to smooth matters over.

The hot tempered Twi'lek stared at her friend with clenched fists, temper spiking up too much for her to form a coherent sentence.

"Please?" Illia appealed with her eyes. "It's important that we get matters sorted as quickly as possible – the Jedi are coming soon."

Taking in a deep breath and letting it out slowly, Resee nodded and took a step back with a mumbled apology to Obi-Wan.

Still looking considerably annoyed, Obi-Wan simply nodded and returned to his question. "So can you?"

Slowly, all the Padawans nodded.

"Great. Anakin, why don't you go upstairs to see if – "

"Wait," commanded Padme from her cushiony chair. "How will Luke and Leia hide their presences?"

Upon hearing their names, both twins let out a gurgle and stumbled across to their mother.

"Mama," burbled Leia. Luke looked over to her and shook his head firmly.

"Dada," he slurped and turned in his father's direction.

"Hmph," humphed Leia and attached herself to Padme's leg.

"Hmph," Luke countered and grabbed onto Anakin's pant legs before sticking his tongue out at his sister.

"Enough," decided Padme firmly, scooping Leia into her lap and cuddling her. "So what do we do about them?"

"I guess that sends Plan A out the window," stated Anakin as he picked Luke up into his arms, giving in to his beseeching gaze, much to everyone else's amusement.

"So what's Plan B?" asked Xzander, ever the impatient one.

"We have to abandon this planet for one on the outer-rim until further notice." Palpatine took control of the situation again.

"Until they stop searching, you mean," corrected Iska, twirling a lock of her fiery hair in between her fingers.

"Really? Where to?" exclaimed Xzander, his childish desire to see the galaxy not having abandoned him entirely.

The Chancellor's gaze locked with Anakin's. "Tatooine," he intoned.

* * *

Jedi Master Saesee Tiin shot a dirty look at the surrounding countryside that was, unfortunately, endless in this place.

"Master Yoda_ had _to give us this foul planet to investigate," he grouched to his partner, Jedi Master Aayla Secura.

"Shut up, Tiin," the Twi'lek shot back. "Be grateful it wasn't anywhere worse."

Master Tiin retorted with a snort and held up a crumpled piece of paper. He studied it for a few paces.

"There should be another residence up ahead."

"I can see that," snapped Aayla acidly. She really had no clue why Master Yoda had paired her with this useless lump of a Jedi – everyone on the council knew how she resented and hated him so why? And she would have zoomed in on this particular residence straight away had Tiin not been with her as this house practically reeked of Force sensitive beings - but no, the stupid man had to insist on dragging her halfway around the planet in order to do things 'according to the book'.

Tiin looked up from his paper. "Oh," he muttered and cussed himself for being an idiot.

Right in front of him, just appearing atop a small hill was a tall fence that extended beyond the horizon to Force-knows-where. The pair drew to a stop in front of the blockage.

"Oh," he repeated. "What do we do know?"

Not bothering to answer what she thought of as an extremely stupid question, Secura Force-leaped over the fence. Feeling dumber than ever, Saesee Tiin followed suit.

* * *

A loud, blaring sound suddenly rang out through the house, startling everybody within – the intruder klaxon.

"The Jedi have entered our land," commented Anakin, his muscles tensing up. "Will we all fit into the ship?"

Palpatine nodded affirmative.

"Everyone, get your things packed and be at the ship. You have approximately fifteen minutes," he issued his commands, suddenly sound very authoritive and solemn.

The Padawans jumped to attention and all rushed out, heading for their respective rooms straight away, realizing that it was a serious situation by the sudden change in their Master's usually lazy demeanor.

"Come, Padme, let's get our things packed…

_xxxxx_

…"Are you done?" asked Anakin, glancing over at his wife as she folded her last evening gown into her large suitcase. His belongings, being small and little in number, had been packed in less than five minutes into a small convenient-to-carry bag.

"Yes, yes," she muttered distractedly as she swooped into her closet to make sure that she hadn't missed anything. "Just the twins' things left…"

"It's alright, love," he cut in hastily before she could take off next door to the baby room. "I have packed all their things already."

"Thanks, Ani," she said. She looked distressed and flustered, her eyes big and wearing a small frown as a crown and her lips slightly turned down at the corner.

"What's wrong, Angel?" Anakin picked up their three bags and walked over to her.

"Oh, it's nothing about me," she answered, concern for him filling her brown orbs, "but are you sure you want to go to Tatooine? We can go somewhere else if you like." Padme knew how much pain awaited him on that desert planet and she knew what memories would resurface if he went there.

"I'm sure I'll be fine," he answered smoothly. "Besides, it's the safest planet for us to go to."

Padme watched his face carefully but could not fine any evidence that he was lying. "Okay, then, if you're sure…let's go."

She cautiously transferred Leia into his free arm and picked up Luke who was crawling on their large bed and they made their way down to the ship together to rendezvous with the others.

_xxxxx_

Obi-Wan, Anakin and Palpatine stood on a small, grassy knoll that conveniently served as miniature dais in front of the assembled youngsters.

"Is everyone here?"

Obi-Wan did a quick count: eight Padawans, Padme and the twins.

"Yes, they're all here."

"All right, everyone, get in the – "

Suddenly, two loud buzzes that emitted from above them broke him off and two bright, blood red, swinging lightsabers descended onto their little gathering.

In a split second, all eleven Force sensitives on the ground had their sabers in their hands, Iska's hilt having a neon purple blade on either side and Resee pulling out two sabers, on in each hand.

"Watch out!"

"Padme, get in!"

"All of you get in! Leave them for us!"

There were a few seconds of shouting and confusion before Masters Tiin and Secura landed in the middle of their group, conveniently between Iska and Xzander.

For an instant, Iska stared in disbelief at her Master. Seeing that familiar face made a seed of doubt pop into her mind – could she really be what the good Chancellor claimed her to be? But then she looked at the red blade at her side and her doubts were blown away – red was evil – and a mere second later, that was confirmed. She could sense the Dark side of the Force swirling around Master Secura as she leapt gracefully into her attack like a cat with drawn claws. Horrified and not a little bit disgusted at this woman, Iska drew on the Light and twirled her double-bladed staff to meet the Twi'lek's with matching force.

"Traitor!" Secura hissed into her face, yellow eyes narrowing in hate which she drew power from.

"No," replied Iska tranquilly, refusing to let her words get under her skin, "you are the traitor." She twisted her body agilely and managed to land a kick on Aayla's back. Iska was dimly aware of Palpatine ushering reluctant Padawans into the hold of the ship.

The Jedi Master managed to save herself as she stumbled forward by turning her blunder into a forward flip. Iska moved forward, intending to engage her in more swordplay but someone else – Obi-Wan, she saw it was – stepped in before she could get there.

"Iska!"

She turned and found the Chancellor gesturing wildly at her for her to enter onboard. She nodded to indicate that she was coming and then threw a look behind her to make sure that Obi-Wan was fighting 'safely' (If there was such a thing as that).

Only once she was on board did she take full stock of their predicament: Master Kenobi was on the defensive, blocking and parrying for all he was worth. Then, Secura's lips moved with a sly smile and annoyance registered across her opponent's face. With an impossibly quick jab that Iska almost missed, Obi-Wan managed to graze her skin with his blade and the Twi'lek jumped back with a guttural growl of pain. A triumphant smile played on Obi-Wan's lips as he turned the tables on her and went on the aggressive, forcing her back peddle.

Iska's eyes flickered to the other battle and her breath caught in sheer amazement as she saw how Master Skywalker's lithe form twist and turn, how he moved in and out of Tiin's defenses with intricate and complicated footwork. She could even feel the Force pulsating around him in a soft cocoon, so strong was Anakin with the Force. If she hadn't known better, she would've said that the pair was dancing – alebit dancing lethally with their lives at stake.

All the Padawans followed the battle unfolding before their eyes with a growing sense of awe.

A half-strangled scream drew her attention back to Obi-Wan's fight and saw in a mixture if sadness, dismay and indifference her Jedi Master's demise. Aayla Secura fell to the grass with a face of frozen shock and surprise and a stomach full of her own lightsaber. Obi-Wan took a moment to kneel beside her still form to close her eyes and then he turned to the ship, his jolly features etched with sadness.

Seconds later, Saesee Tiin's head fell to the ground with a thud as his decapitated head sprayed a mini fountain of blood all over the grass. Following the same ritual as Obi-Wan, Anakin stood over the bleeding body for a few moments before making his way to the ship with the same sadness as Obi-Wan on his face.

She could sense the confusion she felt echoing off the others. Shouldn't they both be happy after defeating two of their enemies? This means that there are two less they will have to confront at the Temple! So…why are they sad?

Anakin climbed aboard. "I'm going to set course for Tatooine," he announced in a detached voice that lacked his usual passionate emotions. He managed a small smile for his wife as he embraced her and the twins and they entered the cockpit, the door sliding closed behind them.

They all shared a glance with each other at his abruptness.

"Right, folks, there should be enough bunks for everyone," Obi-Wan told them. His voice was also slightly subdued. "Follow me."

They all trooped after him in dead silence, still mulling over the details of the battle and wondering what this backwater planet, Tatooine, was like, for none of them had ever been there.

_xxxxx_

Anakin slumped back in his chair after a successful jump into hyperspace and closed his eyes, shutting out the world. He was feeling a deep sense of moroseness after killing Master Tiin in such a way that left part of his body cut off from the rest. He had liked the Iktotchi and was firm fiends with him before he learnt the terrible truth about the Jedi…and now said friend was dead by his hand. Of course, he should be feeling very happy right now, but on the contrary…

_Well, now there are two less Jedi in the Galaxy to worry about,_ he thought. A thought that did not help alleviate his moodiness one bit at all.

"Ani, you shouldn't be feeling guilty about this," Padme's voice filtered in through his thoughts and he felt her small hand rest on his shoulder. She read him as if she was right there in his mind. "I'm sure he was a good friend before Mustafar but…he would've killed you in without a thought if he was ordered to do so."

"I know, Padme, but I can't help thinking…" he trailed off and heaved a sigh.

"I think you should meditate on this," she suggested.

"That's not a bad idea," mused Anakin and he turned in his chair to kissed her softly on the lips. "Thanks, Angel. Are you sure you want to watch the ship while I meditate?"

"No," said Padme, eyeing her children who have been mock fighting each other with their little fists for the past ten minutes. "I think I'll come with you and get these two settled down. It's not on automatic pilot for nothing, after all."

"Come along, then." He draped his arm around her waist and took Leia by her hands while Padme took Luke's. Together, they walked (and toddled) out the cockpit to search for a room.

* * *

Yoda squeezed his eyes shut with a pained look on his face. Anybody watching this would've assumed that he was sad for the loss of two of his Masters who were both amongst the best, but if you were somebody like Mace Windu, you would've been able to tell that that pained expression meant anger and frustration - there was certainly no grief to it, not even a pinch.

_Constantly surrounded by incompetent fools, am I? _groused Yoda silently.

* * *

Several days later, Anakin piloted them straight into the vast wastelands of Tatooine so they could hide as quickly and as effectively as possible. The wastelands were huge and empty and hardly anyone set foot inside it; only the sand people of the desert would occasionally roam about.

Anakin breathed in deeply as he took his first significant step out onto the sand. God forbid, he had never wanted to set foot on these grains again after he had or had not saved his mother from the Tusken Raiders all those years ago but yet…he was back again. Fate could sometimes deal a nasty hand when it wanted to. His childhood on this planet seemed so faraway now as he stood in the stand reminiscing.

"Ugh!"

He turned around to see the Padawans emerging from the inside of the ship into the over-brightness of the two suns of Tatooine. He and Obi-Wan had made sure to spend some time with the youngsters during their journey to explain about why they felt what they felt after the battle on Zeta. Obi-Wan could only do his best and hope that none of them would make the same mistake he did when he was young and follow the Dark path. He certainly hoped that none of them would enjoy killing a sentient being at all, whether on purpose or by chance.

"Ugh…where are we going to be living, Master Anakin?" Xzander asked, his dismay clear by the distasteful look he gave to the sand.

"On the ship, for now," he responded, "until, we have made a suitable shelter."

"It won't be a grand as the house we had on Zeta, of course," added Palpatine in his gruff voice.

"But where is everyone…anyone?" Te'rra questioned, looking around him in mild curiosity.

"We're in the wastelands," answered Anakin detachedly, "almost no one passes through this area of Tatooine…only the Tusken Raiders come every now and then."

Everyone in the vicinity heard his voice darken with the last sentence and only two people knew the reason. The Padawans simply looked at each other and shrugged; there were a lot of things that they didn't know about Anakin Skywalker and they didn't think it was proper to pry when he did not want to tell them.

"So how are we going to get anything to build with?" Dulla asked.

"There is a market. I will take the ship and get the items when I can." His voice was final.

The Padawans fell silent after that, sensing that he wasn't in the greatest of moods while Padme watched her husband with concern. She would talk to him about this later, she decided, once they have all settled down.

"We will begin training again tomorrow. For now, you can just relax," said Palpatine.

"Great!" exclaimed Mekel, beaming at the old man before flopping down onto the sand to enjoy the sun while it lasted.

Reven sat down quietly next to him, cross-legged and soon all but one of the Padawans were sun bathing while the twins played in the sand, often landing with a soft plop as they fell onto their bottoms.

Padme approached Anakin who had gone off to stand a good ocuple of steps away from the rest of the group, his gaze fixed on the far horizon, lost in thought. She encircled his waist with her slender arms and peered around his shoulders at him.

"Anakin, I thought you meditated on this."

"I did. It's just...this place holds so many memories...too many."

Padme fell silent for a while, at loss how to comfort the man she loved. "How about...?" she began hesitantly and then trailed off.

"How about what?" he asked softly.

She cleared her throat and picked up the courage and broached the subject. "How about we visit your mother now? There's plenty of time...and maybe you'll stop acting so strangely in front of the Padawans after a look around this place," she said, trying to make light of the subject.

She felt his muscles stiffen at the mention of his mother. Truth be told , she had thought that he had come to terms with her death years ago but this subject obviously still held some deeply ingrained pain for him so she tightened her arms around him.

"Okay, Angel," he conceded with a sigh, "perhaps you're right. Maybe it will do me some good."

Padme grinned up at him. "I love you, Ani," she told him, leaning up on her tiptoes to give him a kiss on the back of his neck. "Of course, this trip will do you good," she added confidently. "Come on," she said and tugged his arm.

He followed behind her with a smile. She always knew how to cheer him up, his Angel did.

* * *

**A/N: So, how was that? Press the button and let me know! **

**By the way, the next chapter will be slightly different but I'll tell you the details later.**


	22. As Time Flies

**A/N: Thanks again to all my reviewers. This chapter is slightly different from all the rest and is the second last from the epilogue. It is written in first person from all the characters and they will take you through the next three years. AAT stands for After Arrival on Tatooine...oh, and, I'm not quite clear on how the years go for Star Wars so I have used normal human months and years for this chapter.**

**Enjoy...**

* * *

_Anakin (0 days AAT):_

That day after Padme, my lovely Angel, proposed that idea to me we took a speeder from the ship and rode to Cliegg Lars' residence.

However, when we arrived at the little house in the middle of nowhere, the person who opened the door was not Cliegg, my stepfather, but Owen Lars: my stepbrother.

He and Beru, who was his wife now, were surprised to see us, especially me since they had not expected me to be back so soon particularly after…the incident with my mother.

It is still painful for me to talk about my mother but I can find some relief for it through the Force and Padme's love.

Padme, I can still remember the deep connection I felt with her the first time I saw her, right on Tatooine and then again ten years later when I finally met her again. In all those ten years, she had never strayed far from my thoughts; she was always there, drifting in and out of my head like a phantom.

"Come in, come in," welcomed Owen, jerking me out of my sentimental thoughts.

We were taken to the dining room which was much the same as I remembered all those years ago, the simple, wooden long table and sturdy chairs.

"Sit down," he invited with a wave of his hand. "So what brings you here to Tatooine?" he asked once we were all comfortably seated.

"I'm here to see my mother," I explained, getting straight to the point. I saw him visibly stiffen at the mention of our mother – I guess it isn't easy for him either.

"Of course," he said softly. "Is there anything else you need?"

"No," I replied with a shake of my head, but that was a lie. I needed many things – a house, food, money – but I wasn't about to ask my stepbrother and his wife for anything seeing as they are poor enough already and it was not wise to do so in our situation. The Jedi may come any day and destroy all that they have for simply helping us. "I'll be back in a few hours or so."

We gave each other a friendly nod and Padme and I went on our way.

xxXxx

The little pod settled calmly down in the hangar of the Jedi Temple and two Padawans tumbled out, more than a little bit confused as they have only just taken their blindfolds off. They straightened themselves up and dusted their tunics off, straightening their belts that felt strangely light without the dead weight of their lightsabers. Slightly disconcerted, they looked up. The last thing they saw in their short lives before their souls were absorbed into the Force was a bright flash of red accompanied by the familiar buzzing of a saber weapon and a contrasting green shadow that stood with arms outstretched.

_Padme (6 months AAT):_

I remember very clearly that day Anakin and I went to visit his mother's grave. He had spent _hours_ meditating next to her, so long that the stars were already shining brightly and twinkling by the time we got back into his stepbrother's house.

He was changed after that long visit. I don't know how or why but he seemed happier to be on Tatooine than he was before; it was as if he had laid his ghosts to rest. But every now and again, he would slip into a mood – like today.

His face would remain hard all day but a strange kind of remorse would fill his passionate eyes and no matter how much coaxing or comfort I administered, that look will stay there for one, if not two, days.

I suspect it has something to do with his mom, or maybe the Tusken Raiders but he won't tell me about it and now I lie awake in our bed onboard the ship worrying over him. And being the stubborn person I am, I decided to pry one more time.

"Ani."

"Mmm?" he murmured sleepily.

"What's wrong?" I asked while running my hands over the smooth muscle of his tanned chest, hoping to soften him up a little. "You've been in a mood all day."

"What mood?"

I propped my elbows on his chest and I stared sternly into his sparkling blue eyes. "Don't 'What mood' me, Anakin. Do you think I haven't noticed your strange behaviour all day? It has happened regularly since you went to visit your mother and I'm worried about you so tell me what's wrong!"

His eyes dulled a bit and he looked away from me. "It's nothing you need to worry your head over, Padme, really, it's nothing."

His words sent a wave of mulishness over me, making me all the more determined to find out the problem. I pressed my palm against his cheek and forced him to look at me. "Stop being so childish," I admonished firmly. "I know you well enough to know that something is not quite right. Now will you please tell me about it?"

He turned his head away again. I grew slightly impatient with my husband.

"Look at me," I commanded with my long unused Queen's voice, putting force behind every word. His eyes reluctantly slid back to mine. "I can help you."

He gazed at me for a while longer before dropping his head back onto the pillow with a dull thud of resignation.

"It really _is_ nothing, you know, Angel," he said. I opened my mouth to protest at this comment. "But," he hurried on, "I'll tell you."

I closed my mouth and a smile tugged at my lips. "Thank you, Ani," I said, planting a kiss on his chest and snuggling up against him. "So what's bothering you?"

"I've just been thinking about things too much, that's all."

"Thinking about what type of things?"

"Lots. There's the younglings' training to worry about, there's still a house to be built, the Jedi also stalk my mind but…I've mostly been thinking about the Tusken Raiders…"

I noticed that he didn't wince or cringe at mentioning the Sand People of Tatooine like he had done in the past. "I thought you had put that behind you, Ani."

"No, no, you don't understand, Padme," he said, his voice getting a little agitated. "I nearly turned to the Dark Side that night; I was almost consumed by it and if it wasn't for you I _would've_ been consumed by it. I did not know the strength of the pull of the anger and the hate; I have never experienced it until then. It's not the Raiders that I am worried about; it's the younglings! They have not felt the Dark Side before and I am concerned that they will not be able to withstand it once they face to true Masters of the Jedi Order!"

"Oh Ani," I whispered after he finished his tirade. "Do you sense any fear or anger in the Padawans, Anakin?" I asked in a louder voice.

He shook his head. "But – "

"Are they strong in their heart and their beliefs?" I continued, cutting him off.

"Yes, I do, but – "

"Then believe in them, Anakin, and have faith in them. They won't turn to the dark side – they are good people at heart and they don't have the attachment you had had with your mother and having both you and Obi-Wan constantly mentoring and lecturing them about the dangers of the Dark Side, I highly doubt that the thought of crossing would ever cross their minds," I reasoned as I struggled to fully understand the workings of the Force.

"The thought doesn't have to cross their minds, Padme. It just happens."

"But they first have to succumb to the Dark Side, don't they?"

He nodded.

"Then they can still make a choice."

He shook his head vigourously. "I didn't have a choice that night…"

"You did, Anakin. Your senses were just blocked up with grief and you didn't realize it. The Padawans won't have to deal with such strong emotions. They may be a little bit angry when they meet their Masters but it will be nothing compared to the anger you felt."

Anakin fell silent after that and just as I started to grow concerned again; a small smile graced his handsome features. "I suppose you're right, Angel."

I love it when he calls me that. "I love you, Ani," I replied. "You'll be out of this mood tomorrow, right?"

"Of course," he said, leaning down to give me a long, passionate kiss.

_Obi-Wan (6 months AAT):_

Well, Anakin seemed to have gotten over his fifth or sixth bout of depression since coming to Tatooine. He gave the younglings a terrible fright that day when he disappeared for an entire day only to come back extremely late that night. Naturally, the Chancellor and I knew about where he went to (or the Chancellor filled me in about his mother while he was gone) but, to my surprise, when Resee demanded where he had been, he gladly answered them – where did he go? To visit his mother; did he live here?! Yes, he did; how did he know his mother? He had only been taken Padawan at the age of nine etc. etc.

Of course, I also have a few ghosts and skeletons to deal with while I'm here, but I need to find some time when the young ones aren't taking up my time. Anyway...

Since then, he had been mostly happy living on Tatooine but sometimes he would get terribly depressed. But that's beside the point. He was happy this morning when he settled down for breakfast with Padme at our humble Spaceship Suite. But that soon changed when Resee came in with a grievance.

"Mekel burnt my tunic!" she shouted with unconcealed annoyance, the tentacles on her head twitching this way and that. She held out her singed sleeve for all of us to see.

Anakin's smile turned to a slight frown as he regarded her and then he slapped his forehead with a loud _SMACK! _

"Obi-Waaaannn!" he bemoaned and I looked to him inquisitively. "Do they always have to be so _whiney_?!"

I smiled a little evilly and chuckled. "Look who's talking," I answered him calmly.

"Whaaaat?!" he exclaimed in shock as he drew his head away from his palm so he could look at me. "I did _not_ whine like this when I was a Padawan!" he protested crossly, folding his arms across his broad chest.

"Oh? And who was the person who had to mentor you while you were a Padawan? Hmm?" I asked pointedly. I do enjoy teasing him, but that's a secret between you and me.

"But…but…no..." he spluttered.

"But?"

"But…but you weren't in your right mind!"

I grinned. "Well, Anakin, I might not be same person then as I am now but you were whiney all the same."

He opened his mouth to retort but (thankfully, I had run out of things to say) the Chancellor entered the room at this moment.

"Training time!" he announced, serious as always.

I glanced around the room for Resee and I found her and Padme clutching onto each other with one hand and clutching their stomachs with the other, shaking with laughter and hilarity.

_Palpatine (1 year AAT):_

The Padawans have been progressing well over this past year. It was decided, not so long ago, that we would continue living in the ship instead of finding material to build a new shelter. This way, it is easier to escape quickly and efficiently should the Jedi ever find us on this Hutt-controlled planet.

Every day we train with the lightsabers on the sand and every day they are taught about the Dark Side of the Force by Anakin and Obi-Wan.

Each Padawan has discovered their strengths and weaknesses and together, they will make a very formidable team. Padme coaches them on the whims of politics and negotiating while Obi-Wan teaches them defensive fighting many other forms and skills such as the saber throw, which is favoured by Mekel. Anakin, on the other hand, passes on his skills in piloting and aggressive fighting.

Iska and Resee both have special forms of fighting. Iska uses a double-bladed staff – a rare thing that is not often seen among the Jedi and the Sith these days. Resee, however, fights with two separate blades, one orange and the other blue.

They all have high potential and I only hope that they will fulfill that potential before we leave to confront the Jedi. I sense that the time is drawing closer. We have only one or two years left before we must go. I have never forgotten the words spoken by the mysterious woman who Anakin met on Carityne: four years is the limit and one and a half years has passed already. We only have two more years before we _must_ act.

_Illia (1 year 3 months AAT):_

It had been more than a year since we landed on Tatooine and now the danger of the Jedi seems so far away. I know I shouldn't be thinking like this – the danger is always there – but we haven't seen the hide of a single Jedi since we escaped here. Oh well, I'm positive that we can we can defeat them with another year or so of training. I heard Chancellor Palpatine and Master Skywalker talking about something – something about having to make a move in two years time. I have a good idea of what they are talking about; it was pretty easy to guess.

Out of all my mentors, my favourite is Padme and her twins, Luke and Leia. I can't believe that just a year ago they were little toddlers toddling form one place to another, only saying the words 'Mama' and 'Dadda'. But they have grown in over this year, lots, in fact. Leia is a replica of her mother while Luke has his father's looks but, even at their young age, everyone in the house can already see that Leia has her father's personality and Luke is gentler like Padme.

I know more about the Senator, though, and I admire her greatly for resolving that dispute with the Trade Federation when she was just _fourteen_. She's been teaching me the ways of politics and negotiating – I do hope that I be as good as her one day.

Life on the ship isn't actually all that bad. Initially we _all_ thought it would be nasty as hell but it's turned out quite nicely, other than Resee and Mekel getting on my nerves all the time. Mekel is a prankster and all of us simply ignore his pranks…other than Resee. So you see, Resee gets incredibly angry at him, given her temper and then Mekel is just fuelled on by her anger since she gives him a reason to tease her by getting angry and then _I_ have to step in sort out their dispute.

_Mekel (1 year 6 months AAT):_

"Oh, Force!!" hollered Resee. "What have you _done_ with my lightsaber??"

I can barely hold my laughter in. She is such a good tease – always have been and always will be. It's her temper that gets her into trouble, I tell you. If it wasn't for that, I wouldn't be picking on her.

"Who, me?" I inquired of her innocently. Really, I didn't do anything to her saber…well, nothing irreversible, at least.

"You know it's you!" she whirled around and twirled her saber hilt at me madly. "Who else would it be?"

By now, the entire Padawan group has been drawn to the shouting and is standing around in a rough circle. I grin.

"Alright," I said with a fake sigh, holding my hands out, "let me take a look at it."

She snatched it away at once and Illia took this moment to step in. But before she could say anything…

"You're needed for Strategy class," Master Kenobi informed us from the shadows.

I sighed again, genuinely this time. Strategies are pretty boring, if you ask me. I know, I know, we need to have a good fighting plan and all when we finally face the Jedi but…do they have to make it so boring?

_Iska (1 year 9 months AAT):_

Today, we went through lightsaber forms we sparred with each other. Sometimes I find these saber lessons rather hard since none of them, not Master Skywalker or Master Kenobi or Chancellor Palpatine, knew much about the art of fighting with a saber staff. Okay, they knew a little bit of theory on this matter but none of them have ever trained with a double-ended lightsaber so it's just a little hard for them to teach me anything. It's like this for Resee, too – she fights with two lightsabers.

I sometimes worry about her. She always seems to be angry and all the Masters say that anger is the fastest path to the Dark Side. I can sense that she has good intentions; I think she just lets other people's actions and words get the better of her – let her anger get the better of her. I know that Master Skywalker and Master Kenobi are both giving her extra lessons on the Dark Side and how to control her anger and I only hope that that will work.

I would really hate to see her turn into the monster my Master's true nature is.

_Resee (2 years AAT):_

Meditation, meditation, meditation!! That's what they always tell me! The only thing they tell me during those extra lessons that only _I_ am subject to. It is so _unfair_!

_Resee, it is no good to pretend to be meditating. I can sense exactly what you are doing._

Why does he always have to be on my case?

_I can hear your angry thoughts, too…release your anger into the Force, Resee._

I grumbled under my breath but I complied, hoping to get out of the lesson earlier if I did what Master Kenobi said. I took a deep breath and immersed myself into the Force. Its warmth infused me, instantly calming me as if it was adding water to my flaming temper.

_That's right, Resee._

I ignored his voice. I never actually did notice how soothing it is to be one with the Force. It is probably the only time I'm not feeling all that angry. A small puff of air escaped my lips as I siphoned my anger – all of it, not just the anger I was feeling just now – into the comforting Force. I delved deeper into the Force.

Hours later, when I emerged from my meditation, I felt like a completely new person and Master Kenobi was smiling at me with a look of pride. I felt a strange fulfillment in my heart. My old Master had often been proud of me – or of the fact that I am often angry – but Master Kenobi's pride in me was different. It was like he was proud of the Twi'lek I am and not of anything else I might happen to possess. No-one has ever expressed that before today.

It was then that I realized I had been conditioned to be angry by my old Master – by the encouragement when I felt fear or anger. I now see with shock that I would have flew swiftly down the wrong path if it wasn't for Master Kenobi and his patience with me.

_Te'rra (2 years 3 months AAT):_

Resee seems to have changed over the last three months. I think everyone has sensed it in her and our ship has definitely changed for the better. There was no more constant bickering between Mekel and her, although they did rack up a huge fight last month when Mekel went too far and actually _broke_ her lightsaber. Mekel was punished dearly for that (by Master Skywalker, no less) and he seems to have quieted down since then.

Today, Chancellor Palpatine and the Masters finally told us the plans.

"After all these years of diligent training and learning not only of the mind, but of the heart too", he had said, "you are ready for the final battle with the Jedi."

There was a collective sharp intake of breath at this point – all of us had been waiting for this moment when evil could be wiped off the face of the galaxy forever.

"The plans have been made and we will brief you on the specifics of them four days prior to this battle."

"But, for now, all you need to know is that all the Jedi Masters and their Padawans _will_ be there. You will have to be prepared to kill your friends if you want this mission to succeed."

There had been cries of protest at this. None of us wants to kill our friends at the Temple.

"Therefore," he had announced forcefully, "you will all be spending the three days prior to the battle in meditation and the date for the battle will only be set later in time."

"We will use the evidence we have shown you to convince the Senate of their guilt, but in the mean time, you still have work to do."

Thinking over that meeting, I turned over in my bed in the dark room. The battle ahead is going to be a difficult one.

_Xzander (2 years 6 months AAT):_

I have been having dreams recently. Sometimes they are good, but other times, they are nightmares.

In my good dreams, to cut a long story short, I kill one of my best friends at the Temple and this somehow results in the battle being won.

In my nightmares, however, I refuse to kill my friend and the battle is lost and all of us are executed and the proofs to our claims were never found by the Senate.

These dreams are the reason why I am taking the steps to Master Skywalker's bunker this time at night – I have just woken from the nightmare.

Lately, the nightmares have been occurring more and more frequently and the dreams are growing scarcer and scarcer. And I am beginning to feel afraid of our future.

I can only hope that Master Skywalker can offer me help. I have heard that he himself once suffered from prophetic dreams only…I hope my dreams aren't what his were. And if they are, am I being presented with a choice between my friend and the future of the galaxy?

_Reven (2 years 9 months AAT):_

I'm a quiet person, so I don't have many things to say, except that there is a new nervousness and anxiety in Xzander and I don't know why. He used to be so carefree.

Life in the ship is good. I take care of Luke and Leia when Padme is busy cooking or educating some of the others about politics. Master Skywalker and I do check-ups on our ship at least twice every month so she's in top shape. He says that I am a good pilot – something which I'm grateful for since it is the only thing I think I'm good at.

I can sense the beginnings of restlessness, though, restlessness born of being stuck on this hot, dry and cruel planet for so long and of the impending clash of lightsabers.

_Dulla Kerr (3 years AAT):_

I had another revelation about myself this afternoon. My memory has been coming back slowly over the last three years and I have finally remembered what I was longing for for so long: my name.

It happened this morning and now I feel like a brand new person. I mean, sure, I have been the same person all along – I could still remember the saber exercises and much of the theory – but there was just the little _something _that was missing. And the name Dulla Kerr didn't sound right to me, either.

But…my name is…Cleve!

I told everyone about it as soon as I remembered but they all just insist on calling me Dulla Kerr since they are so used to it. Oh well…

On a more serious note, the plans were told to us earlier today and for the nest three days, we are expected to fill our time with meditation.

Four days from today, we will be leaving to meet our fate…

* * *

**A/N: I hope that wasn't too boring. Any advice, questions, comments on my writing? I'd love to hear them, especially since this is different from my usual style. :)**


	23. Battle

**A/N: Battle chapter! I hope you'll enjoy!**

* * *

It was late afternoon on Coruscant and the Jedi Council was having a meeting. More than half the council members were a holographic blue but they and the physically present members were all looking attentively to the murderous, green troll, Master Yoda.

"Come back, all of you must," he said in his grating voice. "Without delay, come back, you must, " he enforced.

"W-why?" one of the Masters piped up timidly, expecting some form of agonizing punishment from the person he called Master. Yoda was never kind to anyone who asked stupid questions during council meetings.

"Sense a plot to destroy the Jedi, I do," was Yoda's ominous answer.

The Masters shifted uncomfortably in their seats. Even if they were not conscious about it, they all felt it. It was as if Yoda's words had sealed their fate.

* * *

_Four days later…_

The medium-sized ship entered Coruscant's air space and slowly drifted towards one of the many spaceports around the city-planet. It touched down lightly in the private landing sector and its portal open, revealing a well groomed and clean-looking interior.

A group of eleven shabbily dressed people shuffled down, all carrying a fully packed rucksack. Nine of them were young, another middle-aged and the last one had a dark cowl over his head that cast his face into dark shadow so that all one was able to see was the light reflecting from his beady eyes. It was, indeed, quite an odd-looking group.

"Follow me," murmured Palpatine quietly to the group from beneath his cowl. "I know the perfect hotel not far from the Temple."

The group said nothing in reply but obediently followed when the Chancellor began to walk. All of them looked skittish and were looking around nervously at the noisy, ever-present air traffic that was flying around the city in organized chaos. Perhaps it had to do with the fact that they have lived together in near isolation in the quiet wastelands of Tatooine for so long or perhaps they were simply nervous about their task tonight.

"Have you all cloaked you presences?" he asked.

They all nodded, Anakin with a slightly sullen look on his face as he did so. Just yesterday, he had been forced to leave Padme and the twins behind on Tatooine in a presumably "safe" guest house in one of the markets. Oh, he had argued quite vehemently against the _abandoning_ of his wife and children on a planet filled with Hutts and other dodgy characters wandering around but Obi-Wan and Palpatine had countered his argument by pointing out that she would be in more danger if she was to come with them and they lost. The Jedi could easily find her in Coruscant and, Yoda being unpredictable, she and the twins may also be killed for being a Sith sympathizer.

"Very good," he carried on. "We will begin getting ready for our mission immediately."

xxXxx

Xzander stared out the window at the building that was his home for so many years with blank eyes, twiddling with his Padawan braid that he refused to cut off despite the fact that he was not a Jedi Padawan anymore but a Sith Apprentice. He was thankful that Palpatine and the other Masters didn't push for it to be cut, for the braid still held some sentimental value to him. Some of his peers had cut it off and had let their hair grow but others, like him, had kept theirs.

He focused on the Jedi Temple again. This was the building where he had made and lost so many friends, the building where he had become a Padawan, the building that held more happiness than sorrows…the building he was going to destroy.

_But now is not the time to dwell on the past_, he told himself. _Concentrate on the present, concentrate on this mission and don't let the others down. In a few minutes time, you will be heading for that building and in a few minutes time, you will find out which dream will come true._

A crackle and a hiss that was followed by a smell of smoke broke his morose thoughts and he turned to find Palpatine holding up a flaming torch.

"It is time," he whispered and everyone took up their own torch and held it against his so that theirs would light.

* * *

Yoda fidgeted in his cushioned seat in his meditation chambers. Something was going to happen tonight; he was sure of it. The Force told him it would be something big. Even his old bones are telling him the same thing but he just could not pinpoint _what_ was going to happen.

By now, everyone in the Temple should be asleep – most of the Padawans, the healers, the trainers – but Yoda had sent all the Masters to patrol the cold corridors of the Temple complex. Abruptly, his mood changed from being thoughtful to deep resentment. Hopefully, for once in their miserable little lives, his Jedi dogs would do their jobs properly. He would hate to spend so much energy and time into punishing them all when this was over – really, it's a waste of power.

Suddenly, a cry of distress assaulted his senses, startling him. It was one of the Masters who were patrolling the outer passages of the Temple. Soon thereafter, he sensed the being's Force signature snuff out.

_So_, he thought grimly, _begun, the attack has. See who the winner of this battle, we shall, Kenobi,_ he cackled in his head confidently.

xxXxx

The faint cry of pain and shock echoed away into the Force, heard by every Force-sensitive being around the Coruscant, all of who were collected around the Temple.

The group of eleven Sith had split up into four teams of two and one of three: Te'rra and Dulla Kerr (or Cleve), Illia and Resee, Iska and Reven, Mekel and Palpatine and Xzander, Anakin and Obi-Wan.

"That was our signal," murmured Te'rra to his partner and sure enough, right on time, a Jedi Master sauntered past in the corridor down below the window from where Te'rra and Cleve were watching.

Earlier that day, they had spent an hour dotted around the Temple premises just as they are now watching and observing the patrol schedule of the Jedi. From there, they had rapidly finalized their strategy and silently removed all the windows they were going to enter through.

"In four more steps…two more…one more…NOW!" Te'rra harshly whispered the command to his fellow and both leapt off the window sill they have been perched upon to land silently not one meter behind the Jedi Master.

All at once, the sound of three saber blades igniting simultaneously filled the empty hallway. The Jedi Master whirled around to viciously fend off an attack from both Siths. A yellow colour oozed into the Jedi's eyes as he faced the two young men swinging at him.

"Sith scum!" he spat. "Never thought you were one strong enough to resist the pull of the Dark Side," he sneered, looking at Cleve.

Cleve reacted with anger and he sliced haphazardly at the Jedi, his anger making him clumsy. Smiling with triumph, the Jedi jabbed and made a sizeable hole in Cleve's right arm. Growling in pain, he dropped his lightsaber to the ground, leaving Te'rra to fend for himself. The Kel Dor back pedaled quickly as he faced the full attack of a seasoned Dark Side wielder.

"Cleve!" he shouted with desperation. "Help me! And don't let his words anger you; he is trying to trick you to the Dark Side!" he added as a caution to his friend.

Behind him, Cleve took a deep breath, clenched his hands with determination and called his lightsaber to his left hand. He swung it around his wrist; his grip was slightly awkward as this was not the arm he usually fought with. Nevertheless, he was not going to let his good friend die because of his foolishness.

Masking his intentions, he slowly got up to his feet. Little by little, making sure that Te'rra was keeping the Jedi busy, he crept forward to the fighting pair until he was close enough to the Jedi to strike a lethal blow. He furled like a cat ready to pounce and he leapt at the Dark Master, his saber aiming at the heart.

However, he had let slip his plans just _one second_ too soon. And in that _one second_, the Jedi Master ducked his blade and he went tumbling onto the floor, his wound spurting out blood as his fall damaged the tender, burnt flesh.

Then, reacting by pure instinct, Te'rra lunged, his twirling blade slicing the unsuspecting Jedi in half at the waist. He stood back and watched with round eyes as the two halves slid apart with a loud _squelch_. Another loud cry reverberated in the Force. He continued staring at the bisected corpse and Cleve watched while horror and revulsion registered on his face little by little.

* * *

Soon, a chain reaction of events followed. The groups of ex-Padawans and Siths finished off their designated victims one by one, each entering the Temple walls as soon as they felt the death of a Jedi in the Force. Illia and Resee followed after Cleve and Te'rra, and then Iska and Reven, and then Mekel, Palpatine and Xzander and lastly, Anakin and Obi-Wan who had the hardest task of ambushing the Jedi as they were rotating their guard.

"Come on, Obi-Wan," Anakin called out as he stabbed the fifth and last Jedi in their area in the heart. "We have to get to the rendezvous area!"

"What rendezvous area?" the ex-Jedi asked as he calmly pulled his blade away from the bloody carcass he had created and ran after Anakin who was already making his way to the rendezvous place.

"You weren't listening?" he asked over his shoulder. Obi-Wan shook his head. "Why am I not surprised?"

"Just get on with it," Obi-Wan snapped.

"Okay, okay, the rendezvousing place is the Room of a Thousand Fountains. Now hurry up and come! The others will be waiting for –" Anakin's speech came to an abrupt halt as they rounded the corner that would take them to the Room of a Thousand Fountains.

Wondering what could be the problem Obi-Wan peered over his brother's shoulders from the shadows and saw a troublesome sight.

The other ten that made up his group were all gathered in front of the door that they just entered through. An edgy mood hung over them, anticipation filled the room. Opposite his group, a group of more than twenty Jedi and Jedi Padawans stood menacingly with drawn blades that sang with bloodlust. Heading the Jedi group was Yoda who was standing with a smug, wicked smirk plastered on his face.

"Finally decided to join us, you have," growled the little fiend.

Obi-Wan knew that Yoda was addressing him even though the ogre didn't state his name so he stepped forward from the shadows, giving Yoda a mocking bow.

"Oh, I didn't know you missed me this much," he said in an oily voice. "How nice of you to organize a welcome back party for me! I'm sure I'll enjoy it very much!"

"As would I," snarled Yoda. "Enjoy, I would, the spilling of your Sith blood."

Obi-Wan gave an exaggerated sigh and looked around at his group. The look on Palpatine and Anakin's face suggested that they were not relishing the thought of killing people who have been so blindly trapped into the Dark Side by Yoda, especially the Padawans that were present. All the youngsters, except for Xzander, had their faces twisted in so many emotions – excitement, anxiety, disgust, and some reluctance – that they were almost grimacing.

Xzander, however, was gazing straight ahead with wide eyes and a back made stiff by apprehension. Obi-Wan followed his line of sight and his gaze came to a rest on one of the Padawans in the opposite party.

_Must be the friend he was dreaming about. At least they have no fear or anger,_ thought Obi-Wan grimly. _We have taught them well._

"Well, if that's your attitude…then…" Obi-Wan switched his lightsaber on and swung it around his wrist. The rest of the Siths followed suit and the buzz of lightsabers in the room increased twofold.

No one really knew how the battle began but the Jedi and the Sith were thrown into a bloody battle; a battle that would decide the fate of the galaxy and the fate of good and evil.

Obi-Wan and Anakin found themselves in a fierce fight against multiple enemies; dodging and twisting to avoid fatal blows, letting superficial wound carve crude patterns into their flesh to save the energy that was needed to dodge those wounds for more important needs. The stream of Jedi seemed never-ending even though there were only twenty five of them. As soon as they kill one, another would replace the dead one's place and the deadly dance would continue in all its gory.

The Sith Apprentices split into groups of twos and threes and they would face off Jedi Masters. All of them were lost in the Force and their world shrank into them and whoever their opponent was.

Palpatine was immediately engaged in combat with Yoda. The little Jedi Master was incredibly fast and agile, leaping all and aiming slices and jabs at his taller opponent. Palpatine discovered his size to be a disadvantage, having to bend low to deflect Yoda's lightsaber and then having to straighten up so fast that his back cricked to defend himself against one of Yoda's unpredictable jumps over his head. In minutes, despite using the Force to soothe the pain away, his back felt as though it had been consumed in a blazing inferno.

Slowly, second by second, minute by minute, the numbers of either party dwindled and the ornate Room of a Thousand Fountains laid in ruins once more, the fountains and water features utterly wrecked by the oscillating, luminous blades that still raged on in an intense battle amongst the debris and dust.

Palpatine felt his strength waning even with the aid of the Force and his muscles felt fatigued and strained as he tried to keep up with the rapid movements of Yoda. He stopped a strike aimed at his knees, but he barely deterred the next one that threatened decapitation. The blow aimed at his neck fell to his shoulder and his breath hitched in pain and his movements slowed by a fraction. But that slowing down of a fraction was all Yoda needed to drive his lightsaber into Palpatine's chest.

His lightsaber dropped and he slowly stumbled backwards, away from the green ogre that stood in triumph, easing the saber blade out from his chest and collapsed onto the grimy floor, watched on by the remaining gloating Jedi and shocked Siths.

For a moment, there was a pause in combat as all in the room stopped to watch.

Then, a virile war cry broke the sudden silence that had descended onto the room. Anakin charged at Yoda in righteous anger and the buzz of clashing saber blades began again. Yoda, he himself tired from his ferocious battle with the Sith Lord, was driven back from the force of Anakin's fresher and stronger attack.

Instead of letting his height becoming his disadvantage, Anakin turned it to his advantage and pressed down on Yoda, forcing the green, wrinkly thing to stay on the ground and to bar the aggressive assault with his lightsaber above his head.

Around them, the conflict carried on with more urgency and ferocity. Anakin felt many Force signatures snuff out but he focused all his energy on killing the evil Master in front of him. The evil monster that was responsible for all the suffering of the Jedi and the deaths of thousands. 

The one that nearly trapped him in the murky abyss of the Dark Side and the one that succeeded in snaring his Master. He was also responsible for the death of Palpatine who had opened his eyes to the true nature of the Jedi and had enabled him to save Obi-Wan in the process.

With each thought, Anakin's desire to destroy Yoda to end the suffering he had created grew and with it, the power behind his attack grew until Yoda was scarcely able to hold up his own.

xxXxx

Xzander pulled his saber from the Jedi that he was fighting and ducked straight into a new attack from a new Jedi. He straightened up and was about to slash at his adversary when he realized who it was. A large breath was expelled from his lungs when he saw what his subconscious had been dreading throughout the battle: the friend he was supposed to kill in order to ensure victory for the Sith.

"Kale…" His friend's eyes, like all the Jedi present, were yellow and narrowed.

"Xzander," Kale greeted. "Are you going to join me?"

Speechless, Xzander shook his head. He could not believe how much his tranquil, kind friend had changed; it was as if he was talking to somebody entirely different.

"No?" he rasped, his tone of voice changing from friendly to harsh and hostile in a mere second. "Then you are my enemy, Xzander. Do you wish to die?"

Xzander shook his head again and he brought his lightsaber up and began the fight, forcing his taller and burlier friend backwards.

"Or would you rather that _he _dies?" Kale asked, twitching his head in Anakin's direction. "It would be so easy, when he is concentrating like this, just to creep up on him and end his life. Master Yoda would surely reward me richly for killing the _Chosen One_."

When Xzander only carried on his onslaught, his friend's yellow eyes darkened and he shot away sideways, disappearing into the whirling blur of the lightsabers of the diminishing forces of Light and Dark.

_No,_ thought Xzander as he realized that Kale was not joking,_ no, no, no, no, no! This can't happen…it mustn't happen!!_

He tried to dart after Kale but he was hindered by the blades of the other fighters. Breathing hard, he clawed and shoved his way through the jostling bodies, heading in the direction of Anakin and Yoda. Evading another wayward saber slash from the other fighters, he arrived just in time to see Kale springing at Anakin with his lightsaber outstretched in front of him. Without sparing a moment for thought, Xzander somersaulted into the air and collided with Kale just one meter before his lightsaber would've pierced Skywalker's back.

Disturbed by the commotion behind him, Anakin lost his concentration and turned around to look behind him. One second later, a searing pain flared through his right bicep and his limb fell to the ground – his lapse had cost him his arm. He whipped his head back to Yoda and quickly called his lightsaber to his left hand. Within a minute (from surprise that his nemesis could wield a saber in both hands and frustration that he had yet again underestimated his enemy) Yoda's smirking head was rolling on the floor.

* * *

**A/N: Whew! Now _that_ took long to write. So, how was it?**


	24. Aftermath

**A/N: A big thank you to all of you who reviewed. Your words are really quite motivating :D**

* * *

There was another stopping of all movement as all turned to once again watch the demise of another great leader. All was silent once again, save for the soft hum of the remaining lightsabers.

An enraged howl suddenly tore from the throat of one of the five remaining Jedi who was standing next to Cleve, ripping the strained silence apart. She whirled, a hurricane of fury, and her blade slashed deep into Cleve's heart. The blow killed him almost instantaneously, his bleeding heart seeping with blood that was swiftly pumped out by his frantic heart that was trying to do its job and failing terribly.

His death spurred the still fighters into action again, the drone of blades turned into faint whooshes once more. But this fight did not last long. The Siths, tired as they are, fought for their lives as they had been doing but the Jedi, confused and disorientated by their Masters death, fought clumsily and soon their corpses were lying next to their comrades on the blood soaked floor, dead.

The battle in the Room of a Thousand Fountains was over.

Anakin stood, his body as still as a statue except for his head that was swiveling around, alternating looks between the empty robes of Palpatine on the floor and the remains of Yoda. His brain vaguely registered the stinging pain of his amputated limb but more important thoughts jostled for his attention. They had really done it. They had really saved the Universe from the evil designs of Yoda against all the odds…but at the cost of many of their own.

So what now?

Did they have to take stock of their dead? And then what? Wait here for the Senate to order their arrest and then explain the whole situation to them in the Senate Chamber? Or should he and the remaining Siths do a sweep through the Temple to make sure that there aren't any Dark Jedi left? Anakin peered out a window. It was nearly dawn. The whole Temple would be awake soon. Should they take the Temple as hostage until they were arrested or should they call an assembly and explain it to them all? Or maybe they should just lock the doors to this room and bar them all from this horrible scene.

At this point, his stump gave an impatient, painful twinge and he started out from his introspective state. Gathering his thoughts and his wits, he powered down his lightsaber and jammed it back onto his belt – on the left side – and came to a rapid decision about their course of action.

Before they do anything else, they would take stock of their dead. Then, just to make sure that Yoda's legacy was completely destroyed, they would sweep through the Temple and hunt down any stragglers. Then, after cleaning the battlefield up some, they would hand themselves over to the Senate and prove their innocence. Thereafter, he had to make sure that the Death Star and all its personnel inside were completely destroyed.

He raked his eyes through the small section of devastation and gore in front of him once more and paused when he saw his missing right arm. He thought for second of whether the doctors would be able to fix it if he salvaged it but he quickly dismissed the thought – technology was not _that_ advanced yet; he would have to get a prosthetic arm in place of his real one. Remembering the small lapse in concentration that had cost him his arm, he turned around to see what the commotion had been about. What he saw first confused him but the confusion turned into dismay and guilt as he looked closer and saw what had happened behind him.

A boy – Xzander – was lying slung over another boy's stomach. At first glance, it would look as though they had simply passed out in an unfortunate position. But at closer inspection, you would realize that both young men were dead. Xzander was lying on top of Kale. There was a large, round wound in the middle of his back where Kale's lightsaber had penetrated through his flesh. Underneath him, Kale had died of a chest wound inflicted by Xzander's saber when he tackled him down.

Looking at the scene now, Anakin could easily recreate a fairly accurate replay of what had happened in his head. The boy – Xzander's friend – had taken a flying tackle at his back and the young Sith had collided with the Jedi so that he could continue and win his fight with Yoda. During the collision, their lightsabers had, probably inadvertently, rammed into each other's body, taking each other's lives.

Anakin remembered Xzander speaking to him about his dreams, his visions; dreams and visions that had come true in a twisted way. His visions had not entailed him dying. But he had been the one that had saved the whole battle, destined to save the universe from the beginning. Anakin had just been the one to deliver the killing blow to the monster.

He shook his lowered head in sorrow. This battle was costly. And he was going to see just how costly it was now…

_Fifteen minutes later…_

That was all it took for the surviving Siths to gather up their dead. Five had died – Illia, Mekel, Xzander, Cleve and Palpatine. The six remaining had laid them down in a less damaged corner of the Room of a Thousand Fountains and now stood numbly in a rough circle around the bodies. Silent. Nobody said a word; they were all suffering from the trauma killing known acquaintances had brought upon them. They could hardly believe that it was over, after fighting for their lives all through the night.

Finally, Anakin decided to speak.

"We need to make sure that these," he gestured to the cadavers behind him, "are _all_ the Jedi Masters. We cannot let _any_ Jedi off the hook or they will begin tainting the Temple again."

"That's right," murmured Obi-Wan in agreement. "It is only the beginning of dawn now. There is still time to tour the Temple to search for any Dark Siders."

"And we need to get our torches," added Anakin, command assuming its place in his voice. "Iska, Reven," he said, turning to face their miserable expressions, "please go outside and fetch our torches and our haversacks. Try not to be seen."

The girls nodded and departed back the way they came.

"Would the rest of you sweep the whole Temple? I'll contact Padme to bring the evidence and then I'll join you."

The group dispersed. Anakin stood there for one heartbeat longer and then followed them out the door.

* * *

The beep of her comlink jerked Padme out of her worrying and she snatched the thing up.

"Ani?" she demanded anxiously. "Ani, is that you?"

"Yes, Angel, it's me." She thought his voice sounded strained.

"Thank the Force you're alive!" she exclaimed in relief. She felt strangely light. Anakin's death had been all that was in her mind since they had left.

"Can you bring the evidence to Coruscant now?"

"Of course."

"You know what to do, don't you?"

"Yes, I know."

"See you soon, Angel. I love you."

"I love you too, Ani. Bye!"

Padme smiled as she lowered her comm. "Luke, Leia!" she called.

The twins came scrambling up to her. "Are we going to see Dad now?" squealed Leia excitedly.

"Yes, darling, we're going to go to him right now," she confirmed as she gathered them into her arms and picked up a bag that stood in the doorway.

* * *

"There aren't any other Dark Jedi in the building," Te'rra reported tiredly, rubbing a sore spot in his shoulder as he spoke. "It looks like we…killed…them all." He cringed as he said the word killed.

The re-converged group accepted this news without a word.

"Girls, did you bring…?"

Iska and Reven held out the haversacks, still quiet, and Anakin took all eleven with the Force and held them up in the centre of their little circle. He lifted one higher than the others.

"There are basic medical supplies in this sack," he said. "We should all treat our surface wounds now to prevent further infection. The rest contain dried vegetation and oils so that we can…burn…them."

"What do we do after that?" Resee whispered hoarsely.

"We are going to hand ourselves over to the Senate."

"Hand ourselves over?? I thought…I thought we had the evidence here with us!" Her eyes boggled outrageously.

"Yes, well, we –"

Obi-Wan cleared his throat.

"Fine, _I_ decided that since it was apparently safer on Tatooine, the evidence would be safer if it was left there with Padme just in case we didn't make it through the battle," Anakin explained.

"He lied to you about the last part," clarified Obi-Wan. "We're all going to be spending some time in detainment cells at the Senate building."

"Jail time??" Resee choked in horror.

"Only for a few hours," Anakin assured them.

"A few hours??" said Iska in a strangled voice.

"That long?" echoed Te'rra.

Suddenly, Anakin was facing four very annoyed Sith apprentices and he quickly held his hands up in front of him defensively. "It was just a precaution," he hurried to clear his name. "It wouldn't be very good if we had died and the evidence found and destroyed by the Jedi, would it?"

"_How_ long?" asked Resee menacingly. "Exactly _how_ long?"

"Okay, folks," Obi-Wan said, intervening before things got out of hand. "I think we should begin our job." He held up a twig.

"Yes, we should do this quickly before everyone here wakes up," Anakin agreed quickly, shooting Obi-Wan a grateful glance. "We can take turns treating our wounds," he added.

At the reminder of their fallen comrades, the Sith apprentices all turned silent once again and began to shake the contents of the haversacks over their friends' bodies. The mood returned to sadness and somberness.

Eventually, all the sacks were empty and the five dead were covered with dried vegetation and flammable liquids. The survivors stood with their heads bowed and eyes closed in a semi-circle around the pale bodies on the floor. Anakin set the pyre alight with his saber blade.

For a few moments, there was silence devoid of all the scuffling that was prevalent for the last couple of minutes. Now, there was only the crackle of burning vegetation and the smell of burning flesh. Suddenly –

"Gah!" exclaimed a voice in surprise, alarm and horror.

The Siths' eyes all flew open and unease clouded them as they exchanged anxious glances from the corners of their eyes.

"Gah!" repeated the voice in a slightly queasy tone. Anakin guessed that the smell of the burning dead had finally reached her. "Aah…"

For the second time in minutes, all Padawans' eyes were on him again, this time looking at him for guidance rather than with irritation. Thankful that their backs were turned to the entrance, Anakin glanced questioningly at Obi-Wan, who raised a hand to rub his left brow.

Shaking his head minutely, he scratched his right brow and then rubbed the tip of his nose. His older friend nodded but scratched the lobe of his right ear. Anakin smiled, not for the first time grateful for the secret language he had developed with his old Master during his years as a Padawan. He looked at the apprentices (who where looking at their exchange with wide, puzzled eyes) gathered around him and held a finger to his lips and turned his head left and right in a definite message to keep quiet and not to do anything.

"EEP!" the voice behind them squealed anew. "Wha-what happened here?"

No one answered her.

"S-s-sir? What happened?" she asked again, closer this time.

"A battle," whispered Anakin gravely in a sinister voice that sent shivers up the person's back.

"A battle?" she asked in a whisper. Her voice was intrigued, but there was a slight tremor of fear in it.

"Yes, young one, a battle between the Siths and the Jedi. It went on all night when you were asleep."

"O-oh…and which one are you?" she stuttered.

"Neither, youngling, what is it you want?"

"I w-was l-looking for Master Yoda."

"He's dead," replied Anakin, whirling around to face the little girl behind him. She jumped two feet into the air.

"Master Skywalker!!" she squeaked, her little face showing profound relief. "Where's Master Yoda?" she asked more cheerfully, trying to peer around Anakin to look at the low fire which, as far as she was concerned, was the source of the terribly nasty smell that was profuse in the air.

"He is in his meditation chambers. He is trying to find the culprits that did this," said Anakin in a flat voice.

"Oh…I thought you said he was dead…"

"I was talking about Master Mundi."

"Oh…okay…I'll go find him there then."

"Yes, go on, youngling."

"Should I tell him about this?"

"If you want to," he answered dismissively.

The little girl disappeared through the doors and everyone relaxed.

"Did you have to make it that dramatic and long?" asked Obi-Wan, making a face at Anakin.

He shrugged. "You told me to."

"No, I didn't, I told you to get rid of her peacefully and quietly, not dramatically and extensively."

"Whatever you say," said Anakin with a hint of a smile. "Shall we go to the Senate now? This 'crime' won't stay hidden much longer. We might as well save some dignity and hand ourselves over."

* * *

Soon, just a few hours after the battle-scarred group turned themselves in, scandalous stories made an appearance on the HoloNet.

Two ex-Jedi and four Padawans had stormed the Jedi Temple and killed all the Jedi Masters and their Padawans and then had the audacity to burn some of the dead in an 'honorary' pyre. The six renegades also claimed that Chancellor Palpatine had fought alongside them but had been killed by none other than Jedi Master Yoda himself. They also declared that there was evidence that would prove their innocence and that it was going to arrive in a few days.

Reporters were speculating on these events. Did they lose their minds? Or was it some rebellion? Did they turn bad or was it just a matter of trying to take control of the Jedi Temple? And some argued: but why did they turn themselves in?

An abundance of stories were flying around. Not one of them hit the bull's-eye and guessed the truth; no, the truth was so obscure that nobody could guess it…or believe it. So naturally, everyone was skeptical about the fidelity of the story that was told by the six renegades.

The Temple was another matter. They were in utter chaos. There was no-one to keep them in control, no-one to teach the younglings in the ways of the Jedi and no Masters to take hopeful younglings as Padawans. Those who were about to turn thirteen were puzzled about their fate. Who was going to decide for them? The entire council and all the Masters were dead so where were they supposed to go? The only Jedi Masters left were the two renegades, Master Kenobi and Master Skywalker, but they were hardly eligible to be Jedi Masters after what they had done.

More importantly, nobody could go into the Room of a Thousand Fountains. It wasn't because they weren't _allowed_ to; it was because they simply _couldn't_. It was as if the doors to the extravagant room were locked from the inside. Even so, the healers and some of the older younglings should've been have been able to open it with the Force but there was something that resisted all their attempts to open the doors. Eventually they gave up and decided to wait for the fabled evidence to arrive. Meanwhile, they would try to keep everyone in the Temple calm and under control.

xxXxx

Obi-Wan wiped a thin sheen of sweat off his forehead.

He and the other five were sitting in jail, all waiting for Padme to show up with the evidence so that their trial could start. Really, he didn't know why they bothered to lock them up; they could easily pull one of their Jedi 'tricks' and be out of this place in less than five minutes. He supposed it was just a way of winning their trust. He snorted. The expressions on the faces of the Senators in the Senate building when they handed themselves over and told their story made it crystal clear to him that winning their trust would take more work than letting themselves be jailed. At least they had the grace to give Anakin a prosthetic arm before throwing him into the cell. He never would've guessed that this was how they treated heroes.

He breathed a deep, relieved breath.

"How's it going? You managing?" asked Anakin from the opposite cell. He was staring at the ceiling and amusing himself by floating and rearranging all the cells that were empty (they were all empty except for six). It would be gratifying to see the wardens' face when they came to take them for their trial. It would be even more satisfying to see them straining their muscles to put the scarce furniture back into place when he barely even moved a muscle to move it all out of place.

"They've _finally_ given up," answered Obi-Wan. "They sure are a persistent lot! Thank the Force that I joined you guys when I did. I wouldn't fancy being in that madhouse right now."

"You might have to become a Jedi again, you know."

"Eh?! What? I am _not_ going to fall to the Dark Side again! And certainly not voluntarily!!" Obi-Wan exclaimed indignantly.

An exasperated sigh drifted to his ears.

"That's not what I meant, Obi-Wan. What I was saying was that we are the only fully trained Force users left in the entire galaxy so we might have to form our own Jedi council when we get out of this mess."

"Oh…that's true but I highly doubt that the Jedi would welcome us and let us take the council seats with open arms."

"We'll see. Keep an eye on the door in the meanwhile. We wouldn't want anyone tampering with the 'crime' scene before Padme arrives."

* * *

Padme made her way through the familiar path and stopped when she reached the secretary of the acting Chancellor, arms wrapped securely around the package she was carrying. She had only learned of Chancellor Palpatine's 'Missing in Action' status this morning. She had known straight away that the Chancellor had died. She wondered how many were left and how many of the younglings had died. All of them had been young with a whole, fulfilling life ahead of them; too young to die. Now she would do the only thing she could to help them.

"Good morning, I'm here to see the acting Chancellor please."

"Is the Chancellor expecting you?"

"Yes," she lied.

"What is your name?"

"Senator Amidala."

The secretary nodded, smiled and waved her through while reaching for her comm. link to alert the acting Chancellor of her incoming visitor. Before her lie could be found out, Padme ran into the spacious office, stopping only when she reached the desk and the woman who was sitting behind it.

"Mon Mothma!" greeted Padme with a smile. The Senate couldn't have chosen a better leader…other than Palpatine, of course.

"Padme?" blinked the woman incredulously.

"Yes, it's me, Mon."

"Padme!" Mon exclaimed in surprise. "Padme…" she repeated as the shock and happiness faded into a disapproving frown. "Padme, what happened to you?! You've been missing for four years!"

"I was on an extended holiday, Mon," Padme replied calmly, remembering the excuse Palpatine had made up for their absence from the Senate all those years ago.

"But for four_ years_? Padme, an extended holiday would be anytime from half a year to a year. Not _four_ years!"

"Mon, I knew that I was going to be gone for a long time. I found a temporary replacement for Naboo before I left so that Naboo's political affairs wouldn't be neglected. No harm has been done."

The corners of Mothma's mouth pulled down and then sighed heavily. "I suppose so," she grumbled. "So what are you here for?"

"I have brought the evidence needed for the Jedi who are in jail."

Mothma's mouth now hung slightly ajar. "You? You are in league with them?!" she gasped.

* * *

**A/N: I'm finally coming to an end here! Yay! This took a _long_ time.**


	25. The End

**A/N: This is the last chapter of this story. Please enjoy.**

* * *

Weeks passed as the Senate and those of the Jedi who had an advanced grasp on the Force examined the evidence that the good Senator Amidala had brought to them and the crime scene that was filled with bodies of Jedi Masters and some of their Padawans. The things that were found were a great shock to the Senate and those things were widely debated and argued about as all the planetary nations tried to come to a conclusion about the truth about the Jedi that they were so suddenly faced with.

After hearing their testimonies in their numerous trials, majority of the Senators determined that the Jedi in the jail and those left in the Temple were innocent but there were those few stubborn types that were convinced that not just the Masters but every other Jedi in the galaxy was at fault and wanted to exterminate all of "those parasites that used us to do all their wrong-doings". An even smaller fraction of the Senate believed that only Obi-Wan, Anakin and the Padawans in the holding cells were blameless and the rest of the Jedi should be culled.

Many disagreements and disputes later, the majority won with only a few compromises and soon a press conference was organized to put the minds of the public at ease since the HoloNet had been firing off on wild rumors and theories that were all blown-up and completely untrue. Still, despite this, signs of unease had begun to show up all over the galaxy.

Cameras flashed and video cameras rolled as the new Chancellor, Mon Mothma, concluded the press conference at the Senate building.

"…therefore we have concluded, after watching and carefully examining the evidence presented to the Senate by Senator Amidala of Naboo and hearing the statements of those on trial, that the Jedi we are holding in jail and the remaining Jedi of the Jedi Temple are not guilty. We also believe that the Jedi Masters that were slain in the battle at the Temple had fallen to what the Jedi call the 'Dark Side' and were only using image of the good Jedi who do good for the galaxy so that they could have a free rein on the evil deeds they wanted to and have committed."

Mon Mothma paused and gazed around at the eager faces of the reporters gathered in front of her. Taking their chance at her pause, they all launched into their questions.

"Chancellor, is it true that Chancellor Palpatine was killed during the battle?"

"Senator, what is going to – "

"Chancellor Mothma, could you perhaps show us the evidence that was given to you by Senator Amidala?"

"Yes," Mon cut in before another reporter could ask a question. They all fell silent at once; wanting to hear what she was going to tell them. "Chancellor Palpatine was indeed killed during battle and if you would all keep quiet, we will show you the evidence."

* * *

There was a stunned silence as the reporters tried to take in all that had just been shown to them.

"Senator Mothma, what will happen to the Jedi Temple?" a brave voice piped up from the audience.

"As part of their duties, Masters Kenobi and Skywalker will head the Jedi Temple and they will conduct a review of the youngsters that are there. If they see any of them falling to the Dark Side, they have to attempt to right their path. However, if they will not be righted, Masters Kenobi and Skywalker will have the authority to bind their powers and expel them from the Temple."

A few more questions later, the press conference was over and all the reporters left with juicy stories that were all true for once.

* * *

"Padme!" She felt herself being enveloped in a bear hug by a pair of strong arms. "How was the press conference?"

"It's being aired all over the galaxy right now," she told her husband with a joyful laugh, "and you're all free to go now! Can you believe that it's all over? Can you believe it? After four years it's finally over and we can live our lives properly!"

"Yes, Angel, I can…I can…" he said into her hair as he hugged her even tighter to his chest.

* * *

_Nine years later…_

"Dad! Dad, I made it! I made it!!" exclaimed a very excited Luke as he bounded towards his waiting Father who was standing by the door to the arena in which Padawan Trials had just taken place.

"Of course you did, Luke," said Anakin proudly, giving him a firm hug. "You were trained by me."

"Yeah," he said, grinning up at his father. "I can't believe that Leia backed out of Jedi training to become a _Senator._ Can you believe! A politician of all things!"

Anakin chuckled and gave ruffled his son's hair. "She's like your mother. Keep in mind that she still gets training from me at home so she should be just as good as you."

Luke pulled a face. "I know, I know. I wonder who Uncle Obi-Wan took as a Padawan since he was supposed to take Leia but she left," he mused.

"Obi-Wan still has your cousin as his Padawan, remember?"

"Oh yeah," Luke said sheepishly, "I forgot."

"And Luke?"

"Yes, Dad?"

"You're going to have to call me Master Skywalker from now on."

"Awww, Dad!" the blond boy moaned. "Do I really have to?"

"Yes, of course you do. I'm your Master now so you have to call me Master."

"But you're also my father!" he wailed. "So why do I have to call you Master? Why can't I call you Dad??"

Anakin burst out laughing. "Honestly, Luke, you're so gullible. Of course you can call me Dad!"

Luke pouted. "Hmph!"

"Come on, Luke, let's go home and tell your sister and your mother the good news."

* * *

**A/N: Hi! I know that the conclusion to this story was very short but I'm _very_ busy right now and I didn't want to leave you guys hanging so I finished it off quickly for you. Thanks to everyone who supported me and reviewed my story. It was great to hear feedback from you guys!**

**I'm truly grateful to you all**

**vala-anna**


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